man-child
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of man-child
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400
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.
His death set off waves of grief among generations of "Friends" fans who loved him as the sarcastic man-child Chandler Bing.
From Barron's • May 13, 2026
Like him, they’re also racing from man-child parts to man-man ones.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 30, 2025
So many fit the man-child: “light of brain,” “clod of wayward marl,” “bolting-hutch of beastliness,” but specifically to his inability to speak the truth there’s the perfect “infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker.”
From Salon • Feb. 5, 2024
Playing the disconnected man-child still married to a woman who preyed upon him as a seventh-grader, Melton tinged his character’s agony with a heartbreaking sadness that lingered long after the film ended.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 19, 2024
I wanted to be a baby, but instead, I was an adult who talked like one, a spooky man-child demanding more than his fair share of attention.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
