baby
Americannoun
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an infant or very young child.
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a newborn or very young animal.
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the youngest member of a family, group, etc..
I was the baby of the family for ten years, until my twin brothers were born.
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an adult who behaves like a child; an immature, helpless, or fearful person.
Just swallow the medicine—don't be such a baby!
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a human fetus.
The baby hasn’t arrived yet, but the nursery is ready.
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Informal.
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Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. a girl or woman, especially an attractive one.
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a person of whom one is deeply fond; sweetheart.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) an affectionate or familiar address (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., especially by a male to a female).
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a man or boy; fellow.
He's a tough baby to have to deal with.
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an invention, creation, project, or the like that requires one's special attention or expertise or of which one is especially proud.
His charitable foundation is his baby and it truly shows.
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an object; thing.
Those big babies can carry a lot of cargo.
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adjective
verb (used with object)
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to treat like a young child; pamper.
She still babies her son although he's nearly 24.
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to handle or use with special care; treat gently.
noun
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a newborn or recently born child; infant
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( as modifier )
baby food
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an unborn child; fetus
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the youngest or smallest of a family or group
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a newborn or recently born animal
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( as modifier )
baby rabbits
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derogatory an immature person
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slang a young woman or sweetheart: often used as a term of address expressing affection
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a project of personal concern
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to be left with the responsibility
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to lose the essential element by indiscriminate rejection
adjective
verb
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to treat with love and attention
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to treat (someone) like a baby; pamper or overprotect
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have babiedperfect
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has babiedperfect 3rd person singular
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are babyingprogressive
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am babyingprogressive 1st person singular
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is babyingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been babyingperfect progressive
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has been babyingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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babiessingular 3rd person
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babyingparticiple
Past
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had babiedperfect
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were babyingprogressive plural
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had been babyingperfect progressive
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was babyingprogressive singular
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babiedparticiple
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babiedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of baby
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; see origin at babe, -y 2
Explanation
A baby is the one wearing diapers and a pacifier in her mouth. That baby is so darn lovable, however, that the word is perhaps overused to describe anyone or anything you feel passionately about. Everybody loves the baby, so much so that you might call your girlfriend 'baby' even though she's 23. If you work in construction, you might call any woman with nice legs baby as she walks past. You also might snidely call your little brother baby when he cries about getting a ball thrown in his face. When your mother has to take him to the ER for stitches after said wounding, you might defensively say "She's just babying him, he's fine."
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.
Researchers filled each reservoir with one gram of ASCENT, a liquid with a viscosity similar to baby oil.
From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026
“On the page, the baby is a little bit of an abstraction,” says “Margo’s” executive producer Eva Anderson.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
Nestlé has weathered controversies before, including a U.S. boycott in the late 1970s tied to marketing baby formula as an alternative to breast-feeding in developing countries.
From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026
Jan Lawden was 15 when she was sent to St Monica's with her newborn baby Julian in April 1968.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
But there was no insulating the sounds: the wail of a baby, the din of radios, the angry words of a family quarrel.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
