ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Child

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /tʃaɪld/ · Part of speech noun

Quick meaning: Child is a noun meaning (broadly) A person who has not yet reached adulthood, whether natural (puberty), cultural (initiation), or legal (majority).

Meaning

(broadly) A person who has not yet reached adulthood, whether natural (puberty), cultural (initiation), or legal (majority).

More Meanings

  1. (with possessive) One's direct descendant by birth, regardless of age; one's offspring; a son or daughter.
  2. (cartomancy) The thirteenth Lenormand card.
  3. (figurative) A figurative offspring, particularly:
  4. (mathematics, programming) A subordinate node of a tree.
  5. (figurative) An adult or adolescent with childish or stupid behaviors.
  6. Alternative form of childe (“youth of noble birth”).
  7. (obsolete, specifically) A female child, a girl.

Example Sentences

Go easy on him: he is but a child.
His adult children visit him yearly.
My youngest child is forty-three this year.
My husband is such a child, going out with his sled everytime it snows.

Word Forms

Synonyms for child

Depending on context, synonyms include progeny, hybrid, descendant, product, son, daughter.

Antonyms for child

Common opposites include father, mother, parent, adult, grownup, girl.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include youngster, baby, girl, tiddler, minor, nipper.

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Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.