child
a person between birth and puberty or full growth: books for children.
a son or daughter; offspring considered with regard to parents: All my children are married.
a baby or infant: A child of six months can recognize family members.
a human fetus: My sister is seven months pregnant with a healthy child.
a childish person: He's such a child about money.
a descendant: a child of an ancient breed.
any person or thing regarded as the product or result of particular agencies, influences, etc.: Abstract art is a child of the 20th century.
a person regarded as conditioned or marked by a given circumstance, situation, etc.: a child of poverty; a child of famine.
British Dialect, Archaic. a female infant.
Archaic. childe.
Idioms about child
with child, pregnant: She's with child.
Origin of child
1Other words from child
- child·less, adjective
- child·less·ness, noun
Other definitions for Child (2 of 2)
Julia, 1912–2004, U.S. gourmet cook, author, and television personality.
Lydia Maria (Francis), 1802–80, U.S. author, abolitionist, and social reformer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use child in a sentence
Dinh offered Bjerg a spot, though the Dane was still “very much a child, very immature,” Dinh recalled of the assessment he made when he himself was 22 years old.
For elementary and middle school students, they are lower — which we would expect, given the generally lower disease rate in younger children.
Schools are not spreading covid-19. This new data explains why. | Emily Oster | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostSome applaud school officials’ caution and say they would like to keep their children home for the foreseeable future.
Virginia’s coronavirus numbers are rising. Here’s what you need to know. | Antonio Olivo | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostThe companies that hire them, typically temp agencies, break child labor laws.
The Stolen Childhood of Teenage Factory Workers | by Melissa Sanchez | November 20, 2020 | ProPublicaMost of the children who were restrained or secluded nationwide had disabilities.
National Ban on School Use of Seclusion and Restraint of Students Introduced in Congress | by Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica and Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune | November 19, 2020 | ProPublica
Ah yes, the threat wielded against the deliberately childless since time immemorial: Conform or you will regret it!
The fact of the matter is that what the planet probably needs now is more people picking the childless lifestyle.
The answer keeps coming back the same: Childless couples have happier marriages, on average.
The pope may pooh-pooh the decision to remain childless, but the world needs more people who choose pets over kids.
Nor is it true that childless people are doomed, as the pope warned, to be lonely and sad in their old age.
I suppose, perhaps, it is more to me who am childless, and refrain with a certain shock from looking forwards.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) | Robert Louis StevensonBut despite this, Jack had become very dear to the childless couple, and they were as blind as doating parents to his defects.
St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 5, March, 1878 | VariousWe have already a child, and Margaret was childless, and I find myself prone to insist upon that, as if it was a justification.
The New Machiavelli | Herbert George WellsAnd now the very case is about to occur; this old man, childless at seventy, is the last of the Neuburgs.
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. VII. (of XXI.) | Thomas CarlyleShe was a childless widow, and children puzzled as well as interested her.
Prudy Keeping House | Sophie May
British Dictionary definitions for child
/ (tʃaɪld) /
a boy or girl between birth and puberty
(as modifier): child labour
a baby or infant
an unborn baby: Related prefix: paedo-
with child another term for pregnant
a human offspring; a son or daughter: Related adjective: filial
a childish or immature person
a member of a family or tribe; descendant: a child of Israel
a person or thing regarded as the product of an influence or environment: a child of nature
Midland English and Western English dialect a female infant
Origin of child
1Derived forms of child
- childless, adjective
- childlessness, noun
- childly, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with child
In addition to the idiom beginning with child
, also see
- second childhood
.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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