childlike

American

[chahyld-lahyk] / ˈtʃaɪldˌlaɪk /

adjective

like a child, as in innocence, frankness, etc.; befitting a child.

childlike trust.

Synonyms:

innocent, trusting, guileless, simple, ingenuous, young

Antonyms:

adult, sophisticated

childlike British

/ ˈtʃaɪldˌlaɪk /

adjective

like or befitting a child, as in being innocent, trustful, etc Compare childish

"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

Related Words

See childish.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of childlike

First recorded in 1580–90; child + -like

Vocabulary lists containing childlike

Naive

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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.

Subjects tackled in the art will include deceased celebrities, discontinued chocolate bars, extinct animals and destroyed buildings, presented in "Lycett's usual tongue-in-cheek and childlike style."

From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026

Their excitement was almost childlike, and I mean that in the best possible way.

From Salon • Apr. 12, 2026

“A Good Day’s Work” sets out to recast Moses as more complicated than the cheerful, childlike images her name conjures and as a legitimizer of self-taught art.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

And I felt that as I watched adults gallivant around with childlike glee.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

He was sitting, propped by several pillows, watching the commotion around him with a kind of abstracted childlike wonder.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023