childlike
/ˈt͡ʃaɪldlaɪk/
childlike adjective: innocent and trustful; credulous; artless.
Adjective
childlike (comparative more childlike, superlative most childlike)
- Innocent and trustful; credulous; artless.
- According to the prevailing Danish rationale, Greenlanders were naïve and childlike, in need of protection and incapable of governing themselves.2019 August 22, Matthew H. Birkhold, “A Brief History of the Indignities Heaped Upon Greenland”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Jul 2020
- Of, like, or suitable for a child.
- Even Mario is given childlike mannerisms – running open-armed like a fearless toddler, whooping with delight – to convey playful innocence.2019 May 8, Jon Bailes, “Save yourself! The video games casting us as helpless children”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 09 Apr 2023
childlike meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
childlike in Tamil
- குழந்தைத்தனமாக, சிறுபிள்ளைத்தனமாக, அப்பாவித்தனமாக, குழந்தை போல் எளிய பண்புடைய, கபடு இல்லாத
childlike in Malayalam
- youthful, young, young-looking
- ചെറുപ്പമുള്ള, ശിശുതുല്യമായ, യുവജനസഹജമായ, യൗവനയുക്തമായ, യുവത്വമുള്ള, പ്രായമാകാത്ത
- innocent, artless, guileless
- ശിശുതുല്യമായ, കുഞ്ഞുങ്ങളെപ്പോലെയുള്ള, നിഷ്കളങ്കമായ, നിഷ്കപടമായ, നിർദ്ദോഷിയായ, പാവമായ
Examples of childlike in a sentence
- Even at 13 years old, she still had a childlike voice.
- All these Johnny-come-latelies typically come out as irreverent, vulgar or immature and childlike.
- Tobacco-settlement bonds are a tribute both to the inventiveness of bankers and the childlike impatience of politicians.
Synonyms of childlike
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- green
- guileless
- ingenuous
- innocent
- jejune
- Panglossian
- Panglossic
- quaint
- simple
- simple-hearted
- simple-minded
- starry-eyed
- unaffected
- undesigning
- unpretentious
- unsophisticated
- untested
- wide-eyed
- immature
- born yesterday
- wet behind the ears
- virgin
- childish
- childly
- bairnlike
- infantile
- juvenile
- juvey
- kiddish
Antonyms
Forms of childlike
| comparative | more childlike |
|---|---|
| superlative | most childlike |
Origin of childlike
From child + -like.
Words formed from childlike
Questions about childlike
- What does childlike mean?
- Childlike means innocent and trustful; credulous; artless.
- What is childlike in Tamil?
- Childlike in Tamil is குழந்தைத்தனமாக, சிறுபிள்ளைத்தனமாக, அப்பாவித்தனமாக. See Childlike meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is childlike?
- Childlike is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce childlike?
- Childlike is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃaɪldlaɪk/.
Words near childlike in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: childlike (page history and authors); childlike (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); childlike (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-childlike.wav.
Cite this entry: “childlike.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/childlike. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.