CHILDHOOD

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does childhood mean? 

• CHILDHOOD (noun)
  The noun CHILDHOOD has 2 senses:

1. the time of person's life when they are a child

2. the state of a child between infancy and adolescence

  Familiarity information: CHILDHOOD used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHILDHOOD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The time of person's life when they are a child

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("childhood" is a kind of...):

time of life (a period of time during which a person is normally in a particular life state)

Meronyms (parts of "childhood"):

anal phase; anal stage ((psychoanalysis) the second sexual and social stage of a child's development during which bowel control is learned)

latency period; latency phase; latency stage ((psychoanalysis) the fourth period (from about age 5 or 6 until puberty) during which sexual interests are supposed to be sublimated into other activities)

phallic phase; phallic stage ((psychoanalysis) the third stage in a child's development when awareness of and manipulation of the genitals is supposed to be a primary source of pleasure)

prepuberty (a period of two years immediately prior to the onset of puberty when growth and changes leading to sexual maturity occur)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "childhood"):

girlhood; maidenhood; maidhood (the childhood of a girl)

boyhood (the childhood of a boy)

Derivation:

child (a young person of either sex)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of a child between infancy and adolescence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

childhood; puerility

Hypernyms ("childhood" is a kind of...):

immatureness; immaturity (not having reached maturity)

Derivation:

child (a young person of either sex)

child (an immature childish person)

 Context examples 

A rare, inherited, progressive, degenerative disease of childhood that causes loss of muscle control, a weakened immune system, and an increased risk of cancer.

(Ataxia Telangiectasia Syndrome, NCI Dictionary)

The vast majority of cases occur in childhood.

(Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

During childhood the most common form is pilocytic astrocytoma although fibrillary astrocytomas may also occur.

(Benign Cerebellar Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by developmental delays during childhood.

(Aspartylglycosaminuria, NCI Thesaurus)

Genetic polymorphism may be a risk factor for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

(ARID5B wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

A regimen consisting of cytarabine, cisplatin and etoposide, used for the treatment of recurrent and refractory, childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma.

(APE Regimen, NCI Thesaurus)

A regimen consisting of doxorubicin, prednisone and vincristine, used for the treatment of disseminated, childhood, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL).

(APO Regimen, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare, unilateral, benign embryonic neoplasm typically presenting as a cilliary body mass during childhood.

(Benign Intraocular Medulloepithelioma, NCI Thesaurus)

Some cataracts appear in infancy or in childhood, but most develop in older individuals.

(Bilateral Cataracts, NCI Thesaurus)

A regimen consisting of idarubicin, administered with continuous infusion fludarabine, followed by a continuous infusion of cytarabine and used for the treatment of relapsed or refractory, childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

(CCG-0922 APL Regimen, NCI Thesaurus)