indulgent.

Readily allowing or forgiving behavior, especially when affection or pleasure discourages strictness.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• an indulgent parent
• an indulgent smile

On the page

Her indulgent smile vanished when the joke turned cruel.

He was indulgent toward mistakes he remembered making himself.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychological / character. Forms: Comparative more indulgent; superlative most indulgent where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.