childhoodchild‧hood /ˈtʃaɪldhʊd/ ●●○ W3 noun [countable, uncountable] 
I had a very happy childhood.in/during/since (somebody’s) childhood Most infections occur in childhood. She had been writing poems since her childhood.childhood home/friend/experience etc (=a home etc that you had when you were a child)childhood memories (=the memories you have of your childhood) → second childhoodRegisterIn everyday English, people usually say when I was a child when talking about their childhood: During my childhood we lived by the ocean. ➔ When I was a child we lived by the ocean. | She’s known him since childhood. ➔ She’s known him since she was a child.COLLOCATIONSadjectiveshappy/unhappy· Her parents divorced and her childhood was unhappy.normal· I think my childhood was fairly normal.lonely· He had no brothers or sisters and a lonely childhood.a deprived childhood (=without enough money, food, attention etc)· Many children living in these areas have very deprived childhoods.early/late childhood· Experiences in early childhood are very important.verbshave a happy/unhappy etc childhood· I wish I'd had a happy childhood like yours.spend your childhood· This is the house where the artist spent most of his childhood.remember something from (your) childhood· He remembered the place from his childhood.childhood + NOUNchildhood memories· The smell in the air brought back happy childhood memories.a childhood friend· He married his childhood friend.somebody's childhood home· Her childhood home was in North Dakota.a childhood experience· Our childhood experiences make us who we are.a childhood illness/disease· measles and other common childhood illnesses
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- His early childhood was spent with his father in Chicago.
- It was his childhood dream to play professional baseball.
- Much of my early childhood was spent with my aunt in California.
- Nina had happy memories of her childhood on the farm.
- Of course, I had all the usual childhood illnesses, like measles and mumps.
- Since childhood Margot had longed to be a dancer.
- Steven had happy memories of his childhood on the farm.
- They've been buddies since childhood.
- Vince had a very unhappy childhood.
- He says Ryan has been a tinkerer since childhood, endlessly curious about the way things work.
- Information on childhood history, family, peer and work experiences was obtained, as well as detailed information on current circumstances.
- It all comes from a good childhood.
- The adults had retreated from this childhood world, but not very far.
- The origins of Gironella's peculiar assemblages lie in his childhood.
- There were no differences in the rates of complications after delivery or in childhood behavior problems.
Longman Language Activatorthe time when someone is a child
· Since childhood Margot had longed to be a dancer.· Steven had happy memories of his childhood on the farm.childhood illness/experiences/dream etc (=that you have when you are a child) · Of course, I had all the usual childhood illnesses, like measles and mumps.· It was his childhood dream to play professional baseball.early childhood · Much of my early childhood was spent with my aunt in California.
formal while someone is a baby or a very young child - use this especially to talk about children dying or getting diseases: · Three of her children died in infancy.
the time when you were young the time when you are a child: · Nina had happy memories of her childhood on the farm.early childhood (=when you are a young child): · His early childhood was spent with his father in Chicago.
the time when you are young, especially the time between 15 and 25 when you are no longer a child: · She revisited all the places where she had spent her youth.in somebody's youth (=when they were young): · Caroline had been a ballet dancer in her youth.
the time when a young person is changing from being a child into a young adult - use this especially when talking about the problems that young people have at this age: · During adolescence, boys are sometimes very shy and lacking in self-confidence.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYadjectives They were childhood sweethearts.
· Her parents divorced and her childhood was unhappy.
· I think my childhood was fairly normal.
· He had no brothers or sisters and a lonely childhood.
(=without enough money, food, attention etc)· Many children living in these areas have very deprived childhoods.
· Experiences in early childhood are very important.
verbs· I wish I'd had a happy childhood like yours.
· This is the house where the artist spent most of his childhood.
· He remembered the place from his childhood.
childhood + NOUN· The smell in the air brought back happy childhood memories.
· He married his childhood friend.
· Her childhood home was in North Dakota.
· Our childhood experiences make us who we are.
· measles and other common childhood illnesses
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES (=that you had when you were a child)· I had a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut.
(=when someone is a young child, adolescent etc)· We’ve known each other since early childhood.
· Our childhood experiences make us what we are as adults.
(=someone who was your friend when you were a child)· She had been a childhood friend of Tony Walker.
(=someone who was your hero when you were a boy/child)· McEnroe had been one of his boyhood heroes.
(=where you lived as a child)· I had not been back to my childhood home for ten years.
· Measles is a common childhood illness.
· Going to the farm brought back happy childhood memories.
They were childhood sweethearts.· Stevens had a unhappy childhood in Manchester.
· the home in which she spent her childhood years
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Several other individual and household characteristics could be examined for their influence upon probabilities of early childhood survival.· All three children have been involved in the business from their earliest childhood.· Fighting against threats to young children's rights to early childhood opportunities could be seen as an expression of legitimate collective responsibility.· One is a small pile of undated photographs I have from my early childhood.· There is a great deal of evidence which indicates that experiences in early childhood are very important, and that the effects are long-lasting.· Indeed, the schemata of adulthood have their origins in the schemata of early childhood.· There was nothing in his early childhood to hint at the extraordinary life he would lead.· But there are several stories about his early childhood.
· But, although she had progressed from happy childhood to happy marriage, all the while a conflict was raging within her.· Born in Swansea of modest entrepreneurial stock, he had a happy childhood, and he recreates its pleasures well.· I had a very happy childhood!· Both Charles and Diana were determined that their children were going to have normal, happy childhoods.· Both had had happy, loving childhoods: with that, he always claimed, you could cope with anything.
NOUN· Further research is to be carried out among 5,000 people who survived childhood cancer and were born before 1969.· The latest report looked at 74 recorded cases of childhood cancer in the area between 1950 and 1985.· This suggested that unlike adult cancers, childhood cancers were not caused by factors in the environment.· A longitudinal health study of this population is required to see if the incidence of other childhood cancers is increased.· Incidence of second primary tumours among childhood cancer survivors.· Family support is also important in the University's childhood cancer programme.· Pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons have also been linked to hay fever, chest infection and childhood cancer.· Management of childhood cancers follows a different path to that of adult cancers.
· His mind was back to those warm childhood days before the war.
· Mr Brown also announced plans to provide developing countries with cheap vaccines against childhood diseases.· Also invoked against childhood diseases and physical abuse.
· In it he details his childhood dream of climbing Everest - and his fulfilment of this remarkable ambition three years ago.· It was nursing that gave her the financial wherewithal to pursue a childhood dream.
· This project originated from a recognition that a major concern in early childhood education in Britain at present is the role of parents.· Interest is growing in several parts of the country in practitioner research in early childhood education and care.· The same trends are evident in early childhood education.· One such theme - and one of the most important - is the development of language and literacy in early childhood education.· Just recently, she helped start an early childhood education program in two Washington housing projects.· Before it is all forgotten, let us reclaim the recent history of early childhood education.· The first aspect - the role of narrative in learning - is introduced through a study of literature in early childhood education.
· Just how much is due to inherited characteristics, and how much to other biological factors or early childhood experiences is still uncertain.· Jo Spence went on to explore her childhood experience in her own photographic work.· The adverse childhood experiences therefore seemed to act in two ways.· They argue that these men have suffered bad childhood experiences which have prevented their normal development.· In fact Charles's childhood experiences confirmed him in his decision not to employ a nanny for his own children.· What are the parents' childhood experiences?· Therapists vary in the importance they attach to background and childhood experiences of the parents.· Our childhood experiences are very important.
· He married his childhood friend Mary Maria, daughter of William Peck, moulder, in 1903.· The only exception was among my childhood friends or old school classmates.· Lenoir and Lehartel, childhood friends who attended different schools, were spending the day together.· But after that he met up again with Olwen, a childhood friend.· A childhood friend, Bob Jakin, who is now a packman, offers Tom and Maggie ten guineas he has earned.· Some confessed, some made love, some slept exhausted and dreamed of childhood friends or long-forgotten moments with grandparents.· Most live far from families and childhood friends.
· And so saying, he led me over the fields to his childhood home.· For decades, townspeople thought his childhood home was a three-story rowhouse near the market square, now a porcelain shop.· Most people have vivid memories of their first day at school and their childhood home.· The true childhood home is roughly where the shuttered computer store stands, though the town has yet to acknowledge the mistake.· Anxious to escape the limelight of dishonour, Cleave returns to live alone in his dilapidated childhood home.· On the trip away from her childhood home, she let the maid get away with taking her golden drinking cup.· Poor institutionalised Smike is taken by Nicholas and his sister to their childhood home in Devon.
· Subsequent studies have supported the hypothesis that population mixing can influence the incidence of childhood leukaemia.· Introduction Evidence has mounted that the incidence of childhood leukaemia can be increased by population mixing, particularly in a rural area.· In rural areas which had never before been exposed to the agent, an increase in childhood leukaemia cases resulted.
· It is immediately noticeable that the great majority of comments come from the childhood memories.· Patricia Polacco has won the hearts of millions of children with her rich stories drawn from childhood memories.· InPart One the life stories are used only retrospectively, drawing on childhood memories of grandparents.· But can I count as a reliable source my own childhood memories?· The line back to childhood memories is elastic.· He summoned up childhood memories and a long love for a part of his musical heritage in a piece called Blues Suite.· They all still had secrets to keep, but some childhood memories were shared and Marc Robichaux's were among them.· It very nearly is us: as personal and as deeply embedded as childhood memories of Christmas or school terms.
· Fetal, infant and early childhood mortality and maternity related deaths to women of reproductive age are the classes of mortality examined.· And these patterns determine, at least inpart, the viability of the offspring, infant and childhood mortality conditions and maternal health.· The husband's educational level also influences early childhood mortality.
· She had a very traditional ambition: to marry her childhood sweetheart.· That was it; she stormed out, left Paris immediately, returned to Blackpool and married her childhood sweetheart.· I've got my childhood sweetheart at last.
· My father's death by Thomas Rocke Obviously the death of my father impacted greatly upon my childhood years.· There is nothing developmental linking the middle childhood years with fountain pens and mismatched socks.· And that meant a lot to me at the time because all the paintings I was doing were subjects from my childhood years.· The white frame home in which Gumm spent her childhood years still stands on the south edge of town along Highway 169.· But maybe the day will come when they will resent the loss of their childhood years.
VERB· All of the children had to contribute and to some extent we lost our childhood.· Games are for childhood, and sometimes I think I lost my childhood young.
· Perhaps such physical dependence is not unwelcome, recalling memories of childhood which are tender and warm.
· I don't feel poor - not when I remember our childhood! - but of course I am by her standards.· When remembering childhood experiences, who recalls third-grade reading, after all?· We all remember episodes from our childhood so plainly.· If Fanshawe and I eventually had our differences, what I remember most about our childhood is the passion of our friendship.· When the smell was pure oak, I remembered childhood woods; in fact one particular place in one particular wood.· She remembers her early childhood in the village of Chakowa as idyllic.· But then I remembered my own childhood and the crazes we all went through.· I remember my childhood, my adolescence.
· Unless some one had been prepared to take the risk, she might have spent her childhood in institutions.· Scott spent his early childhood living with his parents in a one-room shack in a rural area outside of Tacoma.· He spent his childhood in Lincoln and left school at 16 to join his father's jewellery shop.· The white frame home in which Gumm spent her childhood years still stands on the south edge of town along Highway 169.· She explained to us that she had spent her childhood in a village near Irkutsk.· Flynn grew up in this country; he was born and spent his childhood right here in Rock Creek.· As we drank our wine, Pumblechook reminded me of the happy times he and I had spent together during my childhood.· In any case, I wanted to get a glimpse of the street on which I had spent my childhood.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
the period of time when you are a child: - I lead a sheltered life out in the branch.
- Listen honey, d' you think I lead a sheltered life?
- We led a sheltered life out there in the suburbs.
- What a sheltered life she leads, in her self-built lavender ghetto.
I had a very happy childhood.in/during/since (somebody’s) childhood Most infections occur in childhood. She had been writing poems since her childhood.childhood home/friend/experience etc (=a home etc that you had when you were a child)childhood memories (=the memories you have of your childhood) → second childhoodRegisterIn everyday English, people usually say when I was a child when talking about their childhood: During my childhood we lived by the ocean. ➔ When I was a child we lived by the ocean. | She’s known him since childhood. ➔ She’s known him since she was a child.COLLOCATIONSadjectiveshappy/unhappy· Her parents divorced and her childhood was unhappy.normal· I think my childhood was fairly normal.lonely· He had no brothers or sisters and a lonely childhood.a deprived childhood (=without enough money, food, attention etc)· Many children living in these areas have very deprived childhoods.early/late childhood· Experiences in early childhood are very important.verbshave a happy/unhappy etc childhood· I wish I'd had a happy childhood like yours.spend your childhood· This is the house where the artist spent most of his childhood.remember something from (your) childhood· He remembered the place from his childhood.childhood + NOUNchildhood memories· The smell in the air brought back happy childhood memories.a childhood friend· He married his childhood friend.somebody's childhood home· Her childhood home was in North Dakota.a childhood experience· Our childhood experiences make us who we are.a childhood illness/disease· measles and other common childhood illnesses