par·ent
Pronounced:
/ˈperənt/
Function:
nounInflected forms:
plural par·entsMeaning:
[count] 1 a : a person who is a father or mother : a person who has a child ▪ My parents live in New York. ▪ They recently became parents. = They're new parents. ▪ The form must be signed by a parent or guardian of the child. ▪ A few of us are single parents. [=parents who live with a child or children and no husband, wife, or partner] ▪ my adoptive parents [=the people who adopted me] ▪ The organization helps people who were adopted find their birth/biological parents. [=their natural parents] ▪ They'd like to become foster parents. [=people who volunteer to care for a child who is not their biological child] —compare grandparent, stepparent b : an animal or plant that produces a young animal or plant ▪ The parent brings food to the chicks. ▪ the parent bird ▪ The new plant will have characteristics of both parent plants.
2 a : something out of which another thing has developed —usually used before another noun ▪ Latin is the parent language of several languages, including Italian, Spanish, and French. b : a company or organization that owns and controls a smaller company or organization ▪ the hospital's corporate parent = the corporate parent of the hospital —often used before another noun ▪ a parent bank/company/corporation/firm
2 a : something out of which another thing has developed —usually used before another noun ▪ Latin is the parent language of several languages, including Italian, Spanish, and French. b : a company or organization that owns and controls a smaller company or organization ▪ the hospital's corporate parent = the corporate parent of the hospital —often used before another noun ▪ a parent bank/company/corporation/firm
—pa·ren·tal /pəˈrɛntl̟/ adjective always used before a noun ▪ parental responsibility/consent
/pəˈrɛntl̟/ adjective always used before a noun ▪ parental responsibility/consent