childlessness (childlesnes)

[ Childlike obedience to her that hath more than motherly care. Hooker . IMG:content-0278.png:[blocks in formation] Syn. Childlike , Childish , Infantile, Infantine. Childlike and childish expre that which is characteristic of a child, the former applying to that which is worthy of approba tion, or at least does not merit disapproval, and the latter usually to that which is not: as, a childlike freedom from guile; a childish petulance. To expre that which belongs to the period of childhood, without qualifying it as good or bad, child or childhood is often used in composition: as, child -toil, childhood -days. Infantile and infan tine are applied to the first stages of childhood; no clear distinction between them has yet been established. See youthful. Let any one ask himself what would be his thought if, in a state of child - like ignorance, he were to pa some spot and to hear repeated a shout which he uttered. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 58. It is, therefore, true, as has been said, that antiquity is the real infancy of man; it is then that he is immature, Sumner , Orations, I. 52. ignorant, wayward, childish. We cannot, it is true, follow with entire comprehension all the steps of evolution of the infantile and childish powers. W. D. Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., ii. The peculiar simplicity [of the old Tuscan language) gives even to the most forcible reasoning and the most brilliant wit an infantine air. Macaulay , Machi a vell i. childlikene (child'lik-nes), n. The state or quality of being childlike; simplicity; artle ne . chill