How to use dote in a sentence

17 example sentences · verb, noun

Dote means to be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody. Example: “Little Bill's parents just keep doting on him.”

Examples of dote by meaning

verbTo be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody.

Little Bill's parents just keep doting on him.
Jules doted on Chris, spending hours while Chris was at school assembling vast cities out of microscopic Lego pieces to surprise him when he returned.2010, Jennifer Egan, “A to B”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad

nounA darling, a cutie.

But to be sure baby Boardman was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

More sentences with dote

Entangled in each other like doting octopi, sweethearts are seizing the day, the hour, the magic minute.2009, Keith Spicer, Paris Passions: Watching the French Being Brilliant and Bizarre, BookSurge, →ISBN, page 43. From the entry octopi
Butterfly taxonomists, however, like the triple-barrelled name approach and dote on subspecies.2007 March 14, Emma Marris, “The Species and the Specious”, in Nature, number 446. From the entry separate
Doting on some dogs when home creates a dog that may overmiss people when left alone.1999, William Edward Campbell, The New Better Behavior in Dogs. From the entry overmiss
Eliza doted on the plumless tree that exploded in plum-scented blossoms but never once bore fruit.1996, Michael Drinkard, Disobedience, page 52. From the entry plumless
Doyle, an only son, grew up with the undivided attention of affectionate parents and two doting sisters.1991 November 18, Alessandra Stanley, “The Symbols Spawned by a Killing”, in New York Times. From the entry only son
I would love to make a doting fool of myself over you.1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 175. From the entry get going
"Minkless mink" will be quite a sensation with the people who dote on but can't afford the real thing.1956, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, volume 10, number 9, page 5. From the entry minkless
But to be sure baby was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC. From the entry to be sure
Hyams, the doting owner of a gray poodle (“she wore it like a brooch,” said one neighbor), organized pet play dates on her floor.2008 June 23, Susan Dominus, “Uniting Neighbors, in Fun and Sorrow”, in New York Times. From the entry intrabuilding
And Kinsella, acknowledging how much she gets out of Mehan's doting over her in person and from afar, concedes she's in a "vacationship".2007, Tom Levinson, "Lives in limbo", Chicago Tribune. From the entry vacationship
All right, go along to the doting mother, while I stretch out on the settle and chance twenty winks of sleep before Andrew turns up.1931, Henry Berman, Life Demands! And Other Plays. From the entry twenty winks
And the 60 minutes star was every inch the doting dad this weekend as he and Claudia welcomed family to their home to meet new daughter Lotte.2023 December 17, Marta Jary, “60 Minutes star Tom Steinfort goes shirtless as he and wife Claudia Jukić invite family to meet their…. From the entry lotte
In fact we’ve found it (or them), plus some fabulous doughnuterias, in STAR Magazine’s great doughnut taste-off—a guide to all who dote on this legendary edible.1980 March 16, “Pages: What’s ahead?”, in Giles M. Fowler, editor, STAR: The Weekly Magazine (The Kansas City Star), Kansas City, Mo.: The…. From the entry taste-off
Whatever Mother and Father, and Aunt Rosa Bona auntishly doting and chirruping under her platter of feathers, may believe, I have never really seen their faces.1963, Hal Porter, The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony: An Australian Autobiography, London: Faber and Faber, […], page 32. From the entry auntishly

Meaning of dote

verb To be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody.
verb To act in a foolish manner; to be senile.
verb To rot, decay.

Full definition of dote

Questions about dote in a sentence

How do you use dote in a sentence?: Dote is used as a verb and noun. For example: “Little Bill's parents just keep doting on him.”
What is a short sentence with dote?: “Little Bill's parents just keep doting on him.”
What does dote mean?: Dote means to be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody.

Adapted from Wiktionary: dote (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use dote in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/dote. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.