Parent

/ˈpɛəɹənt/ · noun

Meaning

(often in the plural) A person who raises a child (which they have made, adopted, fostered, taken as their own, etc.)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (often in the plural) A person who raises a child (which they have made, adopted, fostered, taken as their own, etc.).
2. (often in the plural) A person who has had a baby; this person in relation to their child or children.
3. A surrogate parent.
4. A third person who has provided DNA samples in an IVF procedure in order to alter faulty genetic material.
5. (obsolete) A relative.
6. The source or origin of something.
7. (biology) An organism from which a plant or animal is immediately biologically descended.
8. (attributive) Sponsor, supporter, owner, protector.

Example Sentences

After both her parents were killed in a forest fire, Sonia was adopted by her aunt and uncle.

my trust / Like a good parent, did beget of him / A falsehood in it's contrarie, as great / As my trust was, which had indeede no limit, / A confidence sans bound.

And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind […]

The NHS is naturally pro-immunisation, reassuring parents that their babies can easily cope with these jabs.

It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.

Misery is often the parent of the most affecting touches in poetry.

Indolence and unalimentary food are the parents of this disease; but to neither are Indians accustomed.

The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.

Synonyms for parent

Antonyms for parent

Related Words

Word Forms

• parents
• parenting
• parented

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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