childlike
Americanadjective
adjective
Synonym Usage
See childish.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of childlike
Vocabulary lists containing childlike
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.
"I think a lot of the times we're told when we're adults that we can't enjoy things with this sense of childlike joy any more," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Our critic said the presentation “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 ● Jul. 5, 2026
In her tiny apartment in South Korea, where she lives alone, 78-year-old Bang Chun-ja spends her days with a childlike AI-powered doll she says she prefers to people.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Feeling is more powerful than fact here, and Travolta leans hard into the dreamy, futuristic visual identity of the jet set age to evoke a childlike sense of awe in the viewer.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
When the man took it from Moss, his fingers grazed the side of Moss’s hand, and he felt that childlike giddiness again.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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.
