childish

«childish» in Mova's school dictionary: Childish describes an older person or their behaviour… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (childish, more childish, most childish)

meaning for a pupil

1) Childish describes an older person or their behaviour when it is silly or immature, like a small child's — usually as a criticism. tree →

2) Childish means belonging to or like a child: «childish handwriting». tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories and arguments «Don't be childish!» tells someone to act their age. In everyday talk it criticises sulking, name-calling or tantrums. In descriptions it can just mean like a young child, without blame. Compare «childlike», which is positive.

examples

• Stop being so childish and say sorry. tree →
• It was childish to hide his pencil case. tree →
• The note was written in childish handwriting. tree →
• Dad's jokes are a bit childish, but we laugh. tree →
• Calling names is childish. tree →
• She thought the cartoon was too childish for her. tree →
• His games, too, were quite different; they were not so childish. tree →

note

Usually negative. «Childlike» is positive (innocent and full of wonder). Do not say a child is childish for acting their age.

In the corpora

• "Toot" is a childish, joking word for a fart.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «childish» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.