day care

noun

variants or less commonly daycare

ˈdā-ˌker 

or day-care

1

: supervision of and care for children or physically or mentally disabled adults that is provided during the day by a person or organization

—often used before another noun

a day care center

day care workers

day-care facilities

2

: a program, facility, or organization offering day care

a child enrolled in day care

Examples of day care in a Sentence

She left work early to pick up her son from day care.

Recent Examples on the Web

Lexie isn't the only pup to find day care exhausting. —Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Apr. 2025

And for those times when parents want to nap or get a body wrap, there’s a full-time day care service. —Demarco Williams, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025

The services area was boosted by big job gains in nursing care facilities, individual and family services and child day care services. —Kate Wolffe, Sacbee.com, 21 Apr. 2025

Existing day cares will adjust to looser rules, insists Rep. Rod Furniss, the other co-sponsor of H243. —Rachel Cohen, Vox, 17 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1898, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for day care

• abwehr
• affair
• affaire
• airfare
• altair
• armchair
• aware
• beware
• bugbear
• carfare
• childcare
• compare

Kids Definition

day care

noun

1

: supervision of and care for children or disabled adults that is provided during the day by a person or organization

2

: a program, facility, or organization offering day care