child-free

adjective

ˈchī(-ə)l(d)-ˈfrē 

variants or less commonly childfree

: without children: such as

a

: not including or allowing children : excluding children

a child-free vacation

Create a 3-foot child-free zone around hot spots like stoves, turkey fryers and ovens …

—The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)

I hoped most of the parents invited to the wedding would consider it a nice "date-night" evening to have with their significant others, child-free.

—Morris (Illinois) Daily Herald

While there have been several U.S.-based petitions for child-free flights, the practice is less likely to seep over into the American market …

—Veronika Bondarenko

b

usually childfree : not having children especially by choice

Where there was once the traditional nuclear family of 2.4 children, we are now seeing an increasing number of people in different family units, whether that be childfree families, single-parent families, step or even extended families.

—Lara Bealing

… choosing to be a mother and choosing to be childfree are both decisions worth celebrating because the celebration is in the fact that a woman chose the trajectory of her life.

—Phoebe Robinson

About two years ago when a promising relationship failed, she resigned herself to not having children and embraced all that is good about being child-free.

—Mike Bruce

There are various reasons why someone would be child-free by choice. Some hold the political idea that with overpopulation and resource shortages, being child-free is the ethical choice.

—Rachel Cargle

compare childless

Examples of child-free in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Another Newsweek story reported on a woman who said she was blocked by her two sisters after sharing her reasoning for being child-free. —Matthew Impelli, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025

The lone exception was child-free Americans, with 42% optimistic in 2025 about becoming wealthy, up from 41% in 2023. —Mike Winters, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2025

Nevins, a hitmaking composer turned music publisher who later sold a record company to Columbia, was single, child-free, and an avid host. —Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 22 Aug. 2025

The circuit itself is an adventure in contrast therapy, including steam, a cool, multi-jet shower and various dips in the spa’s (again child-free) pools ranging in temperature from cool to warm. —Margaux Lushing, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025

The majority of Reddit users in the comments section said that the bride was not overreacting by excluding the twins from her wedding, and argued that the best solution would be to keep the wedding entirely child-free. —Ashlyn Robinette, People.com, 7 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for child-free

• be
• bee
• bree
• cree
• fee
• flea
• flee
• free
• gee
• ghee
• glee
• he