with training wheels

Adjective

with training wheels (not comparable)

1. Made easier for novices.
   • I mean, even with the luxury of a graphic front end, there's only so much low-level control that you can do on what is basically a canoe with training wheels.2000, Steven K. Roberts, From Behemoth to Microship, →ISBN, page 92
   • You may not be ready to chase down a rabbit and kill it, but you can shuck an oyster, eat it, and get the primal thrill. It's like going native with training wheels.2010, Rowan Jacobsen, A Geography of Oysters, →ISBN
2. Designed or adapted for children.
   • Also, I introduced him to crayons. Bought the Crayola beginner set—the short, fat, thick ones with training wheels.2004, Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, →ISBN
   • Alternatively, they can drop their tokens into games of chance—basically, slot machines with training wheels.2013, Elizabeth Dunn, Michael Norton, Happy Money, →ISBN, page 24
3. In a formative stage; nascent.
   • Everyone always thinks they're bigger than drugs -- rock stars with training wheels, hard-eyed corner boys or homemakers with a scrip from their physician.2009, Michael Marshall, Bad Things, →ISBN, page 199
   • Naturally he had no clue that Todd's “intimate gathering of friends” was actually a cauldron of hormones and questionable fruit punch—a prelude to the all-night bashes that would someday fill Todd's entire college career. In effect, this was a fraternity party with training wheels.2012, Neal Shusterman, Downsiders, →ISBN
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see with, training wheel.
   • My boyfriend and I even saw a scooter with training wheels the other day riding through the mountains for a nice summer drive.2008, Marie Stacey, The Election of Ideologies: Do You Know Where You Stand?, →ISBN, page 107
   • His son, however, has been riding since age four, when Rollin obsessively forced him to drive a cycle with training wheels.2012, Bernard Rollin, Cynthia Pineo, Harley-Davidson and Philosophy: Full-Throttle Aristotle, →ISBN, page 203