PARENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does parent mean? 

• PARENT (noun)
  The noun PARENT has 2 senses:

1. a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian

2. an organism (plant or animal) from which younger ones are obtained

  Familiarity information: PARENT used as a noun is rare.

• PARENT (verb)
  The verb PARENT has 1 sense:

1. look after a child until it is an adult

  Familiarity information: PARENT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PARENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("parent" is a kind of...):

genitor (a natural father or mother)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "parent"):

adopter; adoptive parent (a person who adopts a child of other parents as his or her own child)

empty nester (a parent whose children have grown up and left home)

begetter; father; male parent (a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father))

filicide (a parent who murders his own son or daughter)

female parent; mother (a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother))

stepparent (the spouse of your parent by a subsequent marriage)

Holonyms ("parent" is a member of...):

family; family unit (primary social group; parents and children)

Antonym:

child (a human offspring (son or daughter) of any age)

Derivation:

parent (look after a child until it is an adult)

parental (relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent)

parental (designating the generation of organisms from which hybrid offspring are produced)

parenthood (the state of being a parent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An organism (plant or animal) from which younger ones are obtained

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Hypernyms ("parent" is a kind of...):

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

• PARENT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Look after a child until it is an adult

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bring up; nurture; parent; raise; rear

Context example:

bring up children

Cause:

grow up (become an adult)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "parent"):

fledge (feed, care for, and rear young birds for flight)

cradle (bring up from infancy)

foster (bring up under fosterage; of children)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

parent (a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian)

parentage (the descendants of one individual)

parentage (the kinship relation of an offspring to the parents)

parentage (the state of being a parent)

 Context examples 

"I wish," continued the good lady, "you would ask her a question or two about her parents: I wonder if she remembers them?"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A son or daughter with genetic makeup inherited from the parent.

(Biological Child, NCI Thesaurus)

This agent possesses tumoricidal activity similar to that of its parent compound, cisplatin, but is more stable and less toxic.

(Carboplatin, NCI Thesaurus)

An indication of the number of direct relatives (i.e., parent, sibling, offspring) who have a particular condition.

(Number of First Degree Relatives (Affected), NCI Thesaurus)

Some parents adopt children from the U.S, and some adopt from abroad.

(Adoption, NIH)

Your parents may want to help you, even if you have never been given money from your family before this.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

And therefore it is, said Mrs. Micawber, that I the more wish, that, at a future period, we may live again on the parent soil.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My parents tried to thank him, but he cut them short.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A relative who is the biological parent of the biological father.

(Paternal Biological Grandparent, NCI Thesaurus)

A parent report or patient self report for measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in healthy children and adolescents and those with acute and chronic health conditions.

(Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, NCI Thesaurus)