child support
noun
Simple meaning
The ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by an obligor, usually the noncustodial parent.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chyldsuhpawrtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃaɪldsəˈpɔɹt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
law
The ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by an obligor, usually the noncustodial parent, to an obligee, usually the custodial parent or other guardian, for the financial care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated, or which never existed.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by an obligor, usually the noncustodial parent, to an obligee, usually the custodial parent or other guardian, for the financial care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated, or which never existed.
Used this way, child support is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
- Finance/economics
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.