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Glite Dictionary
day care center

day care center

50 1.8
A place where young children are looked after while parents work
  • noun
  • /deɪ kɛr ˈsɛntər/
  • US
translation icon : guardería
  • She chose a local day care center because it has a great reputation for child care.
  • day care centers for children
  • preschools and day care centers
  • schools and day care centers

Examples

  • The study was carried out in semi-quiet rooms at the respective day care centers.

    Academic text (2012)

  • I have to pick up my child from the day-care centre.

    Sextet (2007)

  • So, you 2 guys are running a day care center?

    Daddy Day Care (2003)

  • I have to pick up my son at the day care center in an hour.

    Child's Play (1988)

  • If it was up to me, I'd open a day care center.

    Waste Land (2010)

  • Well, this is a day care center for single mothers who wanna attend college.

    God's Country (2012)

  • I used to run a day-care center.

    House Party (1990)

  • More working women have meant that more infants are in day care centers.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Thus, an appropriate indoor environment in daycare centers and homes has become a public focus.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Would Annie and Tim be better off in a daycare center in Yorba Linda for a year?

    Fiction book (1999)

Synonyms

child care
vsday care center
116 1.9

Looking after children by someone other than their parents, often for pay

is a specific place where such care happens during parents work hours
daycare
vsday care center
106 1.0

A place where staff look after young children during the day while their parents work

is focused on being a physical place for children during parents work hours
day care
vsday care center
75 1.2

Care for children during the day while their parents work

is the physical place where this daytime care happens rather than the general activity
nursery
vsday care center
37 1.0

A place where young children are looked after and learn before starting school

is focused on daytime care while parents work rather than preparing for school
childcare
vsday care center
28 2.1

Looking after children by people who are paid

is the concrete daytime place for looking after children while parents work
creche
vsday care center
  • UK
1 5.7

A place where babies and young children are cared for during the day

is limited to caring for young children rather than including infants
day nursery
vsday care center
  • UK
2.2

A place where adults look after young children during the day while their parents work

is the same idea but uses a different common label in other regions

How Formal

preschool
94 1.3
day care center
  • US
50 1.8

Surface Forms

day care center singular
day care centers plural

Morphology

day + care + center

The meaning 'a place that provides care during the day' is directly and transparently built from the constituents 'day' (during daytime) + 'care' (supervision/treatment) + 'center' (a place providing a service). This is a straightforward compositional noun phrase and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the parts should be able to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Day care center comes from the simple picture of a safe place where children stay during the day while their parents go to work. The word care shows they are looked after and center shows it is a place to go, so it means 'a place where young children are looked after during the day while their parents are at work'.