noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An emotional dependency on being treated as an infant. uncountable, usually
2. 2
   infantile behavior in mature persons wordnet
3. 3
   An appearance like (that of) an infant. uncountable, usually

   "A craniopharyngioma may produce infantilism."

4. 4
   an abnormal condition in which an older child or adult retains infantile characteristics wordnet
5. 5
   A paraphilia based on acting like a baby or toddler, sometimes involving being diapered. uncountable, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms

amentiaarrested developmentbabyishnessbackwardnessblithering idiocychildishness

Example

More examples

"A craniopharyngioma may produce infantilism."

Etymology

From infantile + -ism.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.