childlike

adjective

child·​like ˈchī(-ə)l(d)-ˌlīk 

: resembling, suggesting, or appropriate to a child or childhood

especially : marked by innocence, trust, and ingenuousness

childlike delight

childlikeness noun

Examples of childlike in a Sentence

a grown woman with a childlike face

We gazed at it in childlike wonder.

She took a childlike glee in describing every detail.

Recent Examples on the Web

Robinson had braces in the yearbook photo, a childlike image that made the moment all the more poignant. —Davis Winkie, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025

Yet there’s always a childlike sense to both his anger and his neediness, having been denied the milk of human kindness by his maker. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2025

Those who ignore this reality are either narcissists or people stuck in a childlike stage of psychological development. —Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025

His daughter mirrored his parvenue of a wife, a woman beneath him not in station but rather in intellect, someone easily affected and prone to childlike ideas. —Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1577, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for childlike

• alike
• belike
• birdlike
• catlike
• christlike
• deathlike
• dislike
• dreamlike
• friedreich
• godlike
• hairlike
• homelike

Kids Definition

childlike

adjective

child·​like ˈchīl(d)-ˌlīk 

1

: resembling, suggesting, or suitable to a child or childhood

2

: showing the more pleasing qualities (as innocence or trustfulness) often thought to be those of children

childlike delight