Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The earliest period of childhood, especially before the ability to walk has been acquired.
  • noun The state of being an infant.
  • noun An early stage of existence.
  • noun Law The state or period of being a minor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Inability to speak distinctly; want of utterance; verbal hesitation.
  • noun The state of being an infant; the earliest period of life, in formal classification reckoned as extending to the seventh year, but commonly or popularly as including only about two years, or the time of teething, after which childhood begins.
  • noun In common law, the period of a person's life from birth to the age of majority or legal capacity, at the end of the twenty-first year; nonage; minority.
  • noun Figuratively, that period in the history, existence, or development of a thing which corresponds to the earliest years of childhood; the first age, beginning, or early period: as, the infancy of the world; the infancy of an institution or an art.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state or period of being an infant; the first part of life; early childhood.
  • noun The first age of anything; the beginning or early period of existence.
  • noun (Law) The state or condition of one under age, or under the age of twenty-one years; nonage; minority.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The earliest period of childhood (crawling rather than walking).
  • noun The state of being an infant.
  • noun An early stage in the development of, eg, some technology.
  • noun law The state of being a minor.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the early stage of growth or development
  • noun the earliest state of immaturity

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Support for at-risk families and children both prenatal and in infancy is needed.

    How Can the Achievement Gap Be Closed? A Freakonomics Quorum - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • The overall prognosis of CMA in infancy is good, with a remission rate of 85 or 90% by 3 years of age (Høst & Halken 1990, Høst 2002), non-IgE-mediated reactions being the quickest to recover (Vanto et al. 2004) ….

    Archive 2006-03-01 Steve Carper 2006

  • The overall prognosis of CMA in infancy is good, with a remission rate of 85 or 90% by 3 years of age (Høst & Halken 1990, Høst 2002), non-IgE-mediated reactions being the quickest to recover (Vanto et al. 2004) ….

    The Different Types of Dairy Allergy Steve Carper 2006

  • 'The first instance I shall give of the abiding influence of strong impressions received in infancy, is in the character of a lady who is now no more; and who was too eminent for piety and virtue, to leave any doubt of her being now exalted to the enjoyment of that felicity which her enfeebled mind, during its abode on earth, never dared to contemplate.

    The Mother's Book 1831

  • Hw can he be my last when his infancy is already over?

    Hello, Goodbye | Her Bad Mother 2009

  • Unless perhaps the sixth year of the reign of Ezekias, in which Samaria was taken, they think is here called his infancy, that is, the infancy of his reign, not of his age; which even a fool must see to be hard and forced.

    Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew 1225?-1274 1842

  • Or more accurately, I think that's true ONLY because so many boys died in infancy or childhood in 1900.

    Three P's of Growth, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • He depicted a version of his scarred but curiously often blissful family life: nine siblings (three of whom died in infancy), a drained and loving mother, and a tortured, violent-tempered father who died when Davies was 6; his burgeoning homosexuality and struggle with his Catholic faith; the solace and rapture that the cinema bestowed on him.

    Intimate History 2010

  • Historically however rural areas were less subject to epidemics (population was less dense) and provided most people with at least adequate nutrition so death rates tended to be lower, and the rural areas had a population surplus (not enough farmland for everyone) so younger sons, not having died in infancy as many urban children might, took off for the cities to seek their fortunes.

    Matthew Yglesias » By Request: Missing the Trees 2009

  • Juvenile polyps can develop in infancy and into adulthood, but most individuals with juvenile polyposis syndrome will have polyps by the age of 20 years.

    Juvenile Polyposis 2009

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