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REFERENCE

child

n. countable
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈtʃaɪɫd// UK //tʃˈaɪld// child Archaic General-service

n. a young human who is not yet an adult. In computing, it can also mean a file or process that was created by another one.

n. a young human being below the age of puberty or the legal age of majority. In a hierarchical data structure or computing environment, it refers to a node or process subordinate to a parent.


SIMPLE

The child plays with her toys in the garden.

CONTEXTUAL

The software engineer explained that the child process would automatically terminate if the parent application crashed.

COMPLEX

While the primary application handles user authentication, it spawns a child process to manage the heavy data processing in the background to ensure the interface remains responsive.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Usage

The plural form is irregular: 'children'. In technical contexts, it is frequently used in the 'parent-child' pairing to describe hierarchical relationships.

Pitfall

The childs are playing.The children are playing.The noun has an irregular plural form 'children' rather than the standard '-s' suffix.

Idioms5 entries

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