Definition of 'parent'
Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense parents
, present participle parenting, past tense, past participle parented
1. countable noun [usually plural]
Your parents are your mother and father, or someone who looks after you as a parent would.
2. verb
To parent someone is to raise them as your child.
Many young parents lack family support or were not parented well themselves. [be VERB-ed]
As an army wife, she has often parented solo. [VERB adverb]
There are many good ways to parent. [VERB adverb]
She admits that she struggled to parent the girls alone. [VERB noun]
3. See also foster parent, one-parent family, single parent
4. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
An organization's parent organization is the organization that created it and usually still controls it.
5. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Video: pronunciation of
parent
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
Word Frequency
parent in British English
noun
2.
a person acting as a father or mother; guardian
4.
a source or cause
5.
a.
an organism or organization that has produced one or more organisms or organizations
similar to itself
b.
(as modifier)
a parent organism
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
parenthood (ˈparenthood) noun
Word origin
C15: via Old French from Latin parens parent, from parere to bring forth
Word Frequency
parent in American English
noun
1.
a mother or father
2.
a progenitor or ancestor
4.
anything from which other things are derived; source; origin
adjective
6.
designating anything in relation to something for which it is the source
other books based on this parent work
verb transitive, verb intransitive
7.
to be or act as the parent (of)
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
parenthood (ˈparentˌhood)
noun
Word Frequency
parent in American English
(ˈpɛərənt, ˈpær-)
noun
1.
a father or a mother
2.
an ancestor, precursor, or progenitor
3.
a source, origin, or cause
4.
a protector or guardian
adjective
7.
being the original source
a parent organization
8. Biology
parent cell
parent DNA
transitive verb
9.
to be or act as parent of
to parent children with both love and discipline
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
parentless adjective
parentlike
adjective
Word origin
[1375–1425; late ME (‹ MF) ‹ L parent- (s. of parēns), n. use of prp. of parere to bring forth, breed]Examples of 'parent' in a sentence
parent
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Quotations
Honour thy father and thy mother Bible: Exodus
Parents love their children more than children love their parents Auctoritates Aristotelis
Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive themA Woman of No Importance
The most difficult job in the world is not being President. It's being a parent
Parents ... are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fulfil the promise of their early yearsA Buyer's Market
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parent
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In other languages
parent
British English: parent
/ˈpɛərənt/ NOUN
A parent is a father or mother.
...the relationship of parent and child.
- American English: parent /ˈpær-, ˈpɛərənt/
- Arabic: والِدٌ أوْ وَالِدَةٌ
- Brazilian Portuguese: pai
- Chinese: 父亲或母亲
- Croatian: roditelj
- Czech: rodič
- Danish: forælder
- Dutch: ouder
- European Spanish: uno de los padres
- Finnish: vanhempi lapsen
- French: parent père, mère
- German: Elternteil
- Greek: γονέας
- Italian: genitore
- Japanese: 親
- Korean: 아버지
- Norwegian: forelder
- Polish: rodzic
- European Portuguese: pai
- Romanian: părinte
- Russian: родитель
- Latin American Spanish: uno de los padres
- Swedish: förälder
- Thai: พ่อหรือแม่
- Turkish: ebeveyn
- Ukrainian: батько
- Vietnamese: bố hoặc mẹ
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Definition of parent from the Collins English Dictionary
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