Library / English Dictionary

CHILD'S PLAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Activity by children that is guided more by imagination than by fixed rules

Example:

Freud believed in the utility of play to a small child

Synonyms:

child's play; play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("child's play" is a kind of...):

diversion; recreation (an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "child's play"):

house (play in which children take the roles of father or mother or children and pretend to interact like adults)

doctor (children take the roles of physician or patient or nurse and pretend they are at the physician's office)

fireman (play in which children pretend to put out a fire)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any undertaking that is easy to do

Example:

marketing this product will be no picnic

Synonyms:

breeze; child's play; cinch; duck soup; picnic; piece of cake; pushover; snap; walkover

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("child's play" is a kind of...):

labor; project; task; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "child's play"):

doddle (an easy task)

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