childishness
- noun
- /ˈtʃaɪldɪʃnəs/
- Despite his age, his childishness often gets in the way of making serious decisions.
No, this is childish, but it's a dangerous childishness because it means you're not looking at what's really quite in front of you.
- No, this is childish, but it's a dangerous childishness because it means you're not looking at what's really quite in front of you.
- And instead you have this, this kind of childishness that's that's encouraged and people expect to get coddled.
Examples
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We have too many problems and crises to be engaged in this kind of childishness.
Blog text (8) -
We stretched our limbs, praised nature, and laughed at our childishness.
Fiction book (2002) -
This childishness has got to stop.
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Come on, do you really expect someone to take such childishness seriously?
Blog text (27) -
Let's just eat and put this childishness behind us.
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I've had enough of this childishness.
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Weren't things bad enough without her having to deal with his childishness?
Fiction book (2001) -
Shannon, stop this childishness.
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His constant need for attention is a clear sign of his childishness.
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The childishness she displayed during negotiations frustrated her colleagues.
Synonyms
A state of not being fully grown in body or feelings
An adult acting in a childlike and immature way
Being childish in thought or behavior
A way of acting like a child instead of like an adult
A state of not being fully developed in behaviour or ability
A lack of experience and knowledge about how the world works
Antonyms
How Immature
Surface Forms
Morphology
childishness = childish (transparent) = child + ish + ness
Formed by adding the noun-forming suffix '-ness' to the adjective 'childish', so the meaning is directly the state or quality of being childish.
Etymology
Childishness comes from child plus the ending -ish meaning 'like' and -ness meaning 'a state or quality'. You see -ish in simple words like foolish and girlish, which makes the meaning easy to remember. So childishness is literally the 'state of being like a child', which is why we use it for acting like a child or not behaving like an adult.