day care
noun
variants
or less commonly daycare
or day-care
1
: supervision of and care for children or physically or mentally disabled adults that is provided during the day by a person or organization
—often used before another noun
a day care center
day care workers
day-care facilities
2
: a program, facility, or organization offering day care
a child enrolled in day care
Examples of day care in a Sentence
She left work early to pick up her son from day care.
Recent Examples on the Web
The new law also bars day care providers from collecting immigration information about children or their parents and allows parents to nominate a temporary legal guardian for their child through family court.
—
Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
Our children stayed at the day care, but the process—there had been an investigation, in part prompted by us—had changed something in our relationship with the caretakers.
—Ayşegül Savaş, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2025
Earlier that day, a woman dropped the toddler off with Stacy Wheeler Cobb, 48, who was operating an unlicensed day care center at her residence, police said.
—Kate Reilly, NBC news, 6 Oct. 2025
Alverno College's abrupt decision to sell its on-site childcare early this school year has resulted in some parents scrambling to find alternative day cares for their children.
—Gina Lee Castro, jsonline.com, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for day care
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
Our children stayed at the day care, but the process—there had been an investigation, in part prompted by us—had changed something in our relationship with the caretakers.
—Ayşegül Savaş, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2025
Earlier that day, a woman dropped the toddler off with Stacy Wheeler Cobb, 48, who was operating an unlicensed day care center at her residence, police said.
—Kate Reilly, NBC news, 6 Oct. 2025
Alverno College's abrupt decision to sell its on-site childcare early this school year has resulted in some parents scrambling to find alternative day cares for their children.
—Gina Lee Castro, jsonline.com, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for day care
Cite this Entry
“Day care.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/day%20care. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share