parent
6 ENTRIES FOUND:
plural
parents
plural
parents
Britannica Dictionary definition of PARENT
[count]
1
a
:
a person who is a father or mother
:
a person who has a child
—
compare grandparent, stepparent
-
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]
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
— often used before another noun
-
the hospital's corporate parent = the corporate parent of the hospital
-
a parent bank/company/corporation/firm
-
parental responsibility/consent
