apron strings

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Men who couldn’t, or worse, didn’t want to, were portrayed as marionettes tied to and practically strangled by their mothers’ apron strings.

From New York Times • Feb. 27, 2024

How do I manage my mother’s anxieties while disentangling myself from her apron strings?

From Slate • Dec. 2, 2019

He tells me the scarification symbolises the purging of their mothers' blood and the gaining of their own adult blood - in a somewhat excruciating metaphorical severing of the apron strings.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2018

Others are finding themselves tied up in apron strings all over again.

From Salon • Apr. 28, 2013

This time as she came away, she absently untied and re-tied her apron strings, taking up what little slack her enormous waistline allowed.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger