babysitter

UK /ˈbeɪbiˌsɪtɚ/ US /ˈbeɪbiˌsɪtɚ/

noun 2

Definitions

noun

A person who cares for one or more babies or children for a short period of time in place of their legal guardians.

My neighbor is sometimes a babysitter for other mothers’ children.

A person who has to watch or attend to anything or anyone unnecessarily closely; a coddler or handholder.

He said he did not want to be on tenterhooks worrying about us and having to act as a babysitter for grown men.

Collocations

ADJ.

good, grown, other, short

VERB + BABYSITTER

act, asked, can't, doesn't, don't, find, get, hire

BABYSITTER + NOUN

children, evening, friday, men, mothers, night, tonight

PREP.

in, on, until, without

ADV.

only, sometimes, such

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — a person engaged to care for children when the parents are n

baby-sitter
sitter

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

babysitter test

An informal method for assessing the maturity, reliability, or probity of a person, inviting one to judge whether one would entrust this person with the care of one's own children.

The babysitter, presumably between the ages of ten and 15, is quite explicitly expected to function in a way usually expected of mature individuals.

Example Bank

My neighbor is sometimes a babysitter for other mothers’ children.

Wiktionary

He said he did not want to be on tenterhooks worrying about us and having to act as a babysitter for grown men.

Wiktionary

The babysitter tried to sing the baby to sleep.

Tatoeba · #33914

The mother is looking for a babysitter.

Tatoeba · #44056

Our little children were taken care of by the babysitter.

Tatoeba · #65555

There's no point in hiring a babysitter for the evening.

Tatoeba · #282823

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, babysitter is marked as derogatory. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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