1
general::
child
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + child
a four-year-old/ten-year-old etc child
• A four-year-old child should not be left on their own.
a young child
• Young children are naturally curious about the world.
a small child
(= a young one )
• My family lived in France when I was a small child.
a newborn child
• He was holding the newborn child in his arms.
an unborn child
(= a baby that is still inside its mother )
• Smoking can damage your unborn child.
a spoilt/spoiled child
(= allowed to do or have whatever he or she wants, and behaving badly )
• He’s behaving like a spoilt child.
a gifted child
(= extremely intelligent )
• a special school for gifted children
a bright child
(= intelligent )
• He was a bright child – always asking questions.
a good/bad child
• Be a good child and sit down!
a naughty child
(= doing things that are not allowed )
• He's behaving like a naughty child.
an easy/difficult child
(= easy or difficult to deal with )
• Marcus was a very happy, easy child.
a problem child
(= very difficult to deal with )
• Problem children may need to be removed from the classroom.
an adopted child
(= legally made part of a family that he or she was not born into )
• I didn’t find out that I was an adopted child until years later.
street children
(= living on the streets because they have no homes )
• The organization aims to help street children in Latin America.
verbs
bring up a child
especially British English , raise a child especially American English
• The cost of bringing up a child has risen rapidly.
a child is born
• Most children at born in hospital.
a child grows up
• One in four children is growing up in poverty.
child + NOUN
child abuse
(= treating children in a very bad way, especially sexually )
• He was arrested on suspicion of child abuse.
child development
• She’s an expert in child development.
child labour
British English , child labor American English (= the use of children as workers )
• The garments were made using child labour.
transnet.ir
2
general::
child
someone who is not yet an adult. You don’t usually use child to talk about babies or teenagers:
• Many children are scared of the dark. • He’s just a child.
kid
informal a child. Kid is the usual word to use in everyday spoken English:
• We left the kids in the car.
little boy/little girl
a young male or female child:
• I lived there when I was a little girl. • Little boys love dinosaurs.
teenager
someone between the ages of 13 and 19:
• There’s not much for teenagers to do around here.
adolescent
a young person who is developing into an adult – used especially when talking about the problems these people have:
• He changed from a cheerful child to a confused adolescent.
youth
especially disapproving a teenage boy – especially one who is violent and commits crimes:
• He was attacked by a gang of youths. • a youth court
youngster
a child or young person – used especially by old people:
• You youngsters have got your whole life ahead of you. • He’s a bright youngster with a good sense of humour.
minor
law someone who is not yet legally an adult:
• It is illegal to sell alcohol to a minor.
Longman-Thesaurus
4
general::
noun ADJ. little, small, young My father died while I was still a small child. | teenage We've got three teenage children. | good, obedient, well-behaved | delinquent, difficult, disobedient, fractious, mischievous, naughty, problem, sulky, unruly, wayward, wilful She works in a centre for delinquent children. He's always been a problem child. The children were quite unruly and ran around the house as if they owned it. | bright, gifted, intelligent, precocious a school for gifted children What a precocious child?reading Jane Austen at the age of ten! | dull, slow Teaching is particularly difficult when a class contains both slow and bright children. | well-cared for | abandoned, abused, neglected therapy for sexually abused children | sickly | loving | only It was a bit lonely being an only child. | fatherless, motherless | illegitimate | unborn an organization that campaigns for the rights of the unborn child | dependent tax concessions for families with dependent children | street There are a lot of street children in the poorer parts of the city. VERB + CHILD have How many children have you got? | give birth to, have She didn't have her first child until she was nearly forty. | conceive We had trouble conceiving our first child. | expect They are expecting a child in June. | adopt | bring up, raise, rear He had old-fashioned ideas on how to bring up children. | indulge, pamper, spoil You can't spoil a child by giving it all the affection it wants. | abduct | abandon CHILD + VERB be born Their first child was born with a rare heart condition. | develop, grow (up) Children grow up so quickly! good food for growing children | cry, scream, whimper, whine | misbehave CHILD + NOUN actor, bride | welfare PREP. with ~ (literary) big with child (= pregnant)
Oxford Collocations Dictionary