parent
Americannoun
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a father or a mother.
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an ancestor, precursor, or progenitor.
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a source, origin, or cause.
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a protector or guardian.
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Biology. any organism that produces or generates another.
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Physics. the first nuclide in a radioactive series.
adjective
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being the original source.
a parent organization.
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Biology. pertaining to an organism, cell, or complex molecular structure that generates or produces another.
parent cell;
parent DNA.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a father or mother
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a person acting as a father or mother; guardian
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rare an ancestor
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a source or cause
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an organism or organization that has produced one or more organisms or organizations similar to itself
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( as modifier )
a parent organism
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physics chem
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a precursor, such as a nucleus or compound, of a derived entity
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( as modifier )
a parent nucleus
a parent ion
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Other Word Forms
- nonparent noun
- parenthood noun
- parentless adjective
- parentlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of parent
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin parent-, stem of parēns, noun use of present participle of parere “to bring forth, breed”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The tour also comes after the high-profile rift between his parents and their oldest son, Brooklyn.
From BBC
A long Strait of Hormuz closure remains unlikely, but much less traffic will transit, according to Oxford Analytica, a geopolitical risk analysis and advisory service owned by Barron’s parent company, Dow Jones.
From Barron's
You have to be a parent to both your baby and your husband until he figures out why this happened.
From MarketWatch
“I have one little girl — both her parents were taken.”
From Salon
Shares in Palm soared on their debut, giving it a value of more than $53 billion, and implying the rest of parent company 3Com was worth far less than nothing.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
