kill with kindness
Destroy through generosity
To kill with kindness is to harm someone through excessive generosity, attention, or accommodation—often unintentionally.
A parent who does everything for a child may kill them with kindness by preventing self-reliance.
The phrase can also describe deliberately overwhelming someone with niceness, making criticism or hostility impossible: When dealing with difficult customers, just kill them with kindness.
- hugTight, affectionate clasp
- smilePleased facial expression
- southern hospitalityRegional tradition of warmth
- bless your heartDisguised Southern put-down
- keep the peacePrevent discord or conflict
smooth over · bombard · smother · suffocate · overwhelm · enabling · drown · have a heart · passive aggressive · pat · soft power · overindulgence · spoil · velvet glove · honey trap · love bomb · sugarcoating · charm offensive
- Shakespeare phrasesto be or not to be, et tu Brute, all the world's a stage, out damned spot, friends Romans countrymen
kill with kindnessfreeze out
Socially isolate someone deliberately
cold shoulder · neglect · shun · ostracize · stone wall
kill with kindnesscold shoulder
Intentional dismissive treatment
neglect · malicious intent · show one's teeth · fight fire with fire
kill, kills, killed, killing, killer, killers, killjoy, kind, kinds