Definition

1. Noun:
   • An activity by children that is guided more by imagination than by fixed rules: This meaning refers to the imaginative, unstructured play typical of young children.
   • Any undertaking that is easy to do: This figurative meaning describes a task or activity that is very simple and requires little effort.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Imaginative Activity):

  • Building a fort out of blankets is pure child's play.
  • The teacher encouraged child's play as essential for development.

• Noun (Easy Undertaking):

  • For an experienced programmer, fixing that bug was child's play.
  • After running a marathon, a 5k race feels like child's play.

Advanced Usage

• "to be/be considered child's play": Used to emphasize that something is extremely easy compared to something else.
  • Advanced calculus is difficult, but basic algebra is child's play by comparison.

Variants and Related Words

• Play (n): The general activity of engaging in recreation or amusement.
• Childlike (adj): Having the good qualities, such as innocence, associated with a child.
• Plaything (n): A toy.

Synonyms

• A piece of cake: Something very easy to do.
• A walk in the park: An activity that is very easy and pleasant.
• Simple: Easily understood or done; presenting little difficulty.

Related Idioms

• "It's no child's play": Used to emphasize that a task is serious or difficult, directly contrasting with the idiom's usual meaning.
  • Managing a team of fifty people is no child's play.

Noun

1. activity by children that is guided more by imagination than by fixed rules
   • Freud believed in the utility of play to a small child
2. any undertaking that is easy to do
   • marketing this product will be no picnic