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• hide-and-seek
  hide-and-seek

  noun

  one of a variety of children's games in which, according to specified rules, one player gives the others a chance to hide and then attempts to find them.
• hide and seek
  hide and seek

  see play hide and seek.

hide-and-seek

American  

[hahyd-n-seek] / ˈhaɪd nˈsik /

noun

1. one of a variety of children's games in which, according to specified rules, one player gives the others a chance to hide and then attempts to find them.

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hide-and-seek British  

noun

1. a game in which one player covers his eyes and waits while the others hide, and then he tries to find them

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hide and seek Idioms  

1. see play hide and seek.

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Etymology

Origin of hide-and-seek

First recorded in 1665–75

Example Sentences

I “take a step back” when I’m too close to the curb, and I sometimes “circle back” when playing hide-and-seek with my granddaughter.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

With $9.1 million, fourth place went to Searchlight's "Ready or Not 2," a follow-up to the 2019 original comedy horror in which a bride must survive a deadly game of hide-and-seek with her new in-laws.

From Barron's • Mar. 22, 2026

Did the screenwriters toss around a dozen other playground games — killer dodgeball, killer cornhole, killer freeze tag — before sticking with the same hide-and-seek set-up?

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

In 2019, the wickedly fun horror-comedy “Ready or Not” made hide-and-seek into a terrifying encounter with the occult — and made its star, Samara Weaving, the scream queen du jour.

From Salon • Jan. 4, 2026

We could play hide-and-seek in the jungled back yard.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago