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1.1British A schoolchild between the ages of about four and eight.
as modifier‘their first year at infant school’
‘Finally the infants and nursery school children are together.’
‘Angry parents and residents were protesting yesterday over a proposal to build a mobile phone mast near an infant and junior school.’
‘Around 100 children were selected by Pinehurst junior and infants schools to attend the party.’
‘All parents are welcome to attend with children in the schools from junior infants right up to sixth class.’
‘Proposals have been revealed for the infant school, junior school and nursery to move to a new campus off Sheepfoot Lane, within the perimeter of Heaton Park.’
1.2as modifierDenoting something in an early stage of its development.
‘the infant Labour Party’
‘It's a program still in its infant stage, and change is inevitable.’
‘They caution that brain fingerprinting is in its infant stage and may never result in a reliable polygraph.’
‘Clearly, Ohio is not in an infant stage as far as hockey goes.’
‘The first step to bring the web beyond its infant stage is to understand where we are at and what tools we have at our disposal.’
‘Governments provided public goods and promoted infant industries.’
‘As raw as the theatrical chops may have been at this infant stage, the underlying talent is unquestionably in place.’
‘I think we are at the very infant stages of this debate, even though 18 months is perhaps not a very long time in the media.’
‘Jeeps and lorries trundled down asphalt roads and the safari package tour was in its infant stages.’
‘How do you judge an infant company endeavoring to develop its business abroad?’
‘If we do all this, we have truly begun to develop the infant medium.’
‘Running a party now, without electoral commission funding or time to establish a brand would simply kill any infant party before it had any time to grow.’
‘OOL is an infant science, and it seems to me that progress is being made.’
‘From the early infant stage, children with autism are likely to be developmentally delayed.’
‘Although the Texans' roster is only in its infant stages of development, the staff has had plenty to do besides scouting.’
‘Again, we utilized a portion of the 800 system back then - it was in its infant stages in implementation.’
‘One thing the Malians have in mind is help in developing their infant tourist industry.’
1.3Law A person who has not attained legal majority.
‘It may look different if the person being detained is an infant utterly incapable of fleeing the jurisdiction or giving trouble.’
‘I would ask the Court to note that the plaintiff is an infant.’
‘The child was therefore an infant when his mother married, and only knew his step-father for a period of 7 months.’
‘If the third party is an infant or is mentally disordered, this lack of rational capacity may be regarded as sufficient to discount the third party's act in causal terms.’
‘In the result the benefit of the lease was assigned by decree to the infant and the trustee, subject to indemnity, made to account for profits.’
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French enfant, from Latin infant- ‘unable to speak’, from in- ‘not’ + fant- ‘speaking’ (from the verb fari).