man-child
noun
plural men-children
ˈmen-ˌchil-drən 
-dərn
1
: a male child : son
… it came to her what a glory it would be to be the mother of a man-child like this.—
Jack London
Jack London2
: a man who has the qualities of a child : a childlike man
… a largely likable tale about a 38-year-old man-child trying finally to grow up.—Manohla Dargis
Manohla DargisExamples of man-child in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Winter’s cast is certainly up to the seriocomic challenge, with Gad playing a pitch-perfect man-child in an Alamo Drafthouse t-shirt who can’t help but notice that his life has turned into one of his unsold scripts.
—Michael Rechtshaffen, HollywoodReporter, 12 Sep. 2025
Miranda is now fully gay, split up from Steve (David Eigenberg), her son Brady (Niall Cunningham) a man-child stumbling through his twenties.
—Lyz Lenz, Rolling Stone, 16 Aug. 2025
Under all the self-referential jokes and sight gags, 2017's LEGO spinoff understands who Bruce Wayne is: a troubled, slightly narcissistic man-child who'd rather put on a cape than confront past traumas.
—Devan Coggan, EW.com, 3 Aug. 2025
Beginning with Billy Madison, Sandler had been in a Groundhog Day–like cycle of playing versions of the same man-child.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 30 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for man-child
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Michael Rechtshaffen, HollywoodReporter, 12 Sep. 2025
Miranda is now fully gay, split up from Steve (David Eigenberg), her son Brady (Niall Cunningham) a man-child stumbling through his twenties.
—Lyz Lenz, Rolling Stone, 16 Aug. 2025
Under all the self-referential jokes and sight gags, 2017's LEGO spinoff understands who Bruce Wayne is: a troubled, slightly narcissistic man-child who'd rather put on a cape than confront past traumas.
—Devan Coggan, EW.com, 3 Aug. 2025
Beginning with Billy Madison, Sandler had been in a Groundhog Day–like cycle of playing versions of the same man-child.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 30 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for man-child
Cite this Entry
“Man-child.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/man-child. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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