An indulgent person is willing to let someone — very often a child, but also a partner, a student, or a friend — do or have what they want, even when it is not good for them. An indulgent grandparent says yes to another sweet. An indulgent teacher lets the noise go on. The word can sound warm (kind, soft, not strict) or like a warning (too soft, spoiling the child), and the sentence around it usually tells you which. It is milder than cruel or weak; it sits next to spoiling, though actually spoiling is what the behaviour does, and indulgent is the soft, allowing attitude behind it. You can also be indulgent toward yourself, but this sense is mainly about how you treat someone else.