| English Dictionary |
BABY (babied)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does baby mean?
• BABY (noun)
The noun BABY has 6 senses:
1. a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
2. the youngest member of a group (not necessarily young)
3. an immature childish person
4. an unborn child; a human fetus
5. a very young mammal
6. a project of personal concern to someone
Familiarity information: BABY used as a noun is common.
• BABY (verb)
The verb BABY has 1 sense:
1. treat with excessive indulgence
Familiarity information: BABY used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
Context example:
it sounds simple, but when you have your own baby it is all so different
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
child; kid (a human offspring (son or daughter) of any age)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "baby"):
blue baby (an infant born with a bluish color; usually has a defective heart)
cherub (a sweet innocent baby)
abandoned infant; foundling (a child who has been abandoned and whose parents are unknown)
godchild (an infant who is sponsored by an adult (the godparent) at baptism)
neonate; newborn (a baby from birth to four weeks)
nurseling; nursling; suckling (an infant considered in relation to its nurse)
papoose; pappoose (an American Indian infant)
test-tube baby (a baby conceived by fertilization that occurs outside the mother's body; the woman's ova are removed and mixed with sperm in a culture medium - if fertilization occurs the blastocyte is implanted in the woman's uterus)
war baby (conceived or born during war)
Derivation:
baby (treat with excessive indulgence)
babyhood (the earliest state of immaturity)
babyhood (the early stage of growth or development)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The youngest member of a group (not necessarily young)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Context example:
the baby of the Supreme Court
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
issue; offspring; progeny (the immediate descendants of a person)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An immature childish person
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
baby; child
Context example:
stop being a baby!
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Derivation:
babyhood (the earliest state of immaturity)
Sense 4
Meaning:
An unborn child; a human fetus
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Context example:
it was great to feel my baby moving about inside
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
fetus; foetus (an unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development showing the main recognizable features of the mature animal)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A very young mammal
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Context example:
baby rabbits
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
young mammal (any immature mammal)
Derivation:
babyhood (the earliest state of immaturity)
babyhood (the early stage of growth or development)
Sense 6
Meaning:
A project of personal concern to someone
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Context example:
this project is his baby
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
labor; project; task; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it babies Past simple: babied
Past participle: babied
-ing form: babying
Sense 1
Meaning:
Treat with excessive indulgence
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Synonyms:
baby; cocker; coddle; cosset; featherbed; indulge; mollycoddle; pamper; spoil
Context example:
Let's not mollycoddle our students!
Hypernyms (to "baby" is one way to...):
do by; handle; treat (interact in a certain way)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
baby (a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk)
Context examples
A WHO scientist and expert on air pollution, Marie Noel Brune Drisse, warns that many babies will have neurodevelopment problems, resulting in lower IQs.
(WAir Pollution a Health Risk for Children, Lisa Schlein/VOA)
It can be used as baby or ''teen'' leaf in salad bags, as bunched products, and in spring mixes for fresh-market consumption.
(World's First True Red Spinach Variety Released, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Pregnancy is a critical stage characterised by complex changes in endocrine and immunometabolic levels, during which the woman’s physiology is modulated to sustain her health and that of the baby.
(A new study highlights the importance of undertaking physical activity of moderate–vigorous intensity during the early weeks of pregnancy, University of Granada)
Pregnancy in older mothers is associated with a heightened risk of complications for both the mother and her baby.
(Placenta changes could mean male offspring of older mums more likely to develop heart problems in later life, University of Cambridge)
But one day he came into her room, where she was sitting playing with her baby, and put her in mind of it.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Saturn often urges us to conserve and sacrifice for a big goal, so you may start to save for a baby, as an example, now in 2020, or from 2021 to early 2023.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
She ate a hearty breakfast, and watched a wee Munchkin baby, who played with Toto and pulled his tail and crowed and laughed in a way that greatly amused Dorothy.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
These changes may explain how exercise improves the metabolism of the obese mother during pregnancy and, in turn, may prevent her babies from developing early signs of type 2 diabetes after birth.
(Exercise in pregnancy improves health of obese mothers by restoring their tissues, University of Cambridge)
Mothers’ and babies’ brains can work together as a ‘mega-network’ by synchronising brain waves when they interact.
(Mothers’ and babies’ brains ‘more in tune’ when mother is happy, University of Cambridge)
The girl had been so careful as to put the quilt of her baby’s bed into it, for me to lie down on.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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