- the period of somebody’s life when they are a child
- childhood, adolescence, and adulthood
- He spent his childhood in India.
- She had a happy childhood.
- the problem of childhood obesity
- childhood memories/experiences
- in/during (somebody's) childhood in early childhood
- His interest in farming developed during his childhood in Shropshire.
- memories from childhood
- books you remember from your childhood
- We have known each other since childhood.
- a TV show he's loved since his childhood
- a childhood friend
- her childhood home
- He married his childhood sweetheart.
- childhood cancer/leukaemia/asthma
- funds for early childhood education
Collocations The ages of lifeThe ages of lifeChildhood/youth- be born and raised/bred in Oxford; into a wealthy/middle-class family
- have a happy/an unhappy/a tough childhood
- grow up in a musical family/in an orphanage/on a farm
- be/grow up an only child (= with no brothers or sisters)
- reach/hit/enter/go through adolescence/puberty
- be in your teens/early twenties/mid-twenties/late twenties
- undergo/experience physical/psychological changes
- give in to/succumb to/resist peer pressure
- assert your independence/individuality
- leave school/university/home
- go out to work (at sixteen)
- get/find a job/partner
- be/get engaged/married
- have/get a wife/husband/mortgage/steady job
- settle down and have kids/children/a family
- begin/start/launch/build a career (in politics/science/the music industry)
- prove (to be)/represent/mark/reach a turning point in your life/career
- reach/be well into/settle into middle age
- have/suffer/go through a midlife crisis
- take/consider early retirement
- approach/announce/enjoy your retirement
- have/see/spend time with your grandchildren
- take up/pursue/develop a hobby
- get/receive/draw/collect/live on a pension
- approach/save for/die from old age
- live to a ripe old age
- reach the grand old age of 102/23 (often ironic)
- be/become/be getting/be going senile (often ironic)
- die (peacefully)/pass away in your sleep/after a brief illness
Extra ExamplesTopics Life stagesb1- From earliest childhood she'd had a love of dancing.
- He became diabetic during childhood.
- She spent most of her childhood in Egypt.
- He travelled a lot throughout his childhood.
- I was moved from family to family throughout my childhood.
- Her second son didn't survive childhood.
- His health remained poor into later childhood.
- I remembered my own childhood fondly.
- She died in childhood.
- She still retained many friends from childhood.
- He lived in the same house throughout his childhood.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- carefree
- good
- happy
- …
- have
- spend
- recall
- …
- days
- years
- event
- …
- during childhood
- from childhood
- in childhood
- …
- scenes from somebody’s childhood
Word OriginOld English cildhād (see child, -hood).
Idioms
See childhood in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee childhood in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englisha/somebody’s second childhood
- a time in the life of an adult person when they behave like a child againTopics Life stagesc2
Check pronunciation:
childhood