thought of the children

A form of think of the children — An appeal to suspend rational consideration of an issue owing to its presumptive negative effects on the young and impressionable; usually in ironic or mocking parody of another's argumentum ad passiones or moral panic.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verb
  1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of think of the children
Cite this entry
APA

thought of the children. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thought%20of%20the%20children

MLA

“thought of the children.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thought%20of%20the%20children. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thought of the children,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thought%20of%20the%20children.

Source: thought of the children on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.