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par‧ent S1 W1 /ˈpeərənt $ ˈper-/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[Date: 1400-1500; Language: Old French; Origin: Latin, present participle of parere 'to give birth to']
1. the father or mother of a person or animal:
Children under 14 should be accompanied by a parent.
The eggs are guarded by both parents.
Melissa’s spending the weekend at her parents’ house. ⇨ ↑birth parent, ⇨ foster parents at ↑foster²(3), ⇨ lone parent at ↑lone(2), ⇨ ↑one-parent family, ↑single parent
2. something that produces other things of the same type:
New shoots appear near the parent plant.
3. a company which owns a smaller company or organization:
Land Rover’s new parent
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + parent
▪ a single parent (also a lone parent British English) (=someone who has their children living with them, but no partner) My mum is a single parent.
▪ somebody's biological/natural parents Most children are reared by their natural parents.
▪ somebody's birth parents (=the ones who are biologically related to them) Only half the children who are adopted wish to discover their birth parents.
▪ somebody's real parents (=their biological parents) I was thrilled to have found my real parents.
▪ adoptive parents (=the people who take someone else's child into their home and legally become his or her parents) Adoptive parents often have little practical preparation for parenthood.
▪ a foster parent (=someone who has other people's children living with them) Teresa was removed from her mother's care and placed with foster parents.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

parent

par·ent [parent parents parented parenting] [ˈpeərənt] [ˈperənt] noun
1. usually plural a person's father or mother
• He's still living with his parents.
• her adoptive parents
• Sue and Ben have recently become parents.
• It can be difficult to be a good parent.

see also one-parent family, single parent, step-parent

2. an animal or a plant which produces other animals or plants

• the parent bird/tree

3. (often used as an adjective) an organization that produces and owns or controls smaller organizations of the same type
• a parent bank and its subsidiaries
• the parent company
Word Origin:
late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin parent- ‘bringing forth’, from the verb parere. The verb dates from the mid 17th cent.
Thesaurus:
parent noun C, usually pl.
• He's forty but still living with his parents.
mother • • father • • step-parent/stepmother/stepfather • • guardian • |informal, especially spoken dad • • daddy • |BrE, informal, especially spoken mum • • mummy • |AmE, informal, especially spoken mom • • mommy • • folks •
a good/bad/caring/loving/doting/devoted/proud parent/mother/father/dad/mum/mom
a stern/strict parent/mother/father/step-parent/guardian
become a/sb's parent/mother/father/step-parent/guardian/dad/mum/mom
Example Bank:
• The study showed that children with involved parents do better at school.
• The subsidiary eventually outgrew its parent company and took it over.
• They have just become the proud parents of a baby girl.
• single-parent families
• the identities of the adoptive parents
• He's still living with his parents.

• We are looking for volunteers to act as foster parents.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

parent

parent /ˈpeə.rənt/ US /ˈper.^ənt/
noun [C]
a mother or father of a person or an animal:
I'm going to meet Richard's parents for the first time this weekend.

parentage /ˈpeə.rən.tɪdʒ/ US /ˈper.^ən.ţɪdʒ/
noun [U]
When you refer to a person's parentage, you mean their parents and/or their parent's country and social class:
The novel starts when a child of unknown parentage is left at the house of the local priest.
She is of mixed Australian and Japanese parentage.

parental /pəˈren.t^əl/ US /-ţ^əl/
adjective
connected with parents or with being a parent:
parental advice/influence
The government repeatedly stressed its support for parental choice in the selection of a child's school.

parenthood /ˈpeə.rənt.hʊd/ US /ˈper.^ənt-/
noun [U]
the state of being a parent:
The prospect of parenthood filled her with horror.

parenting /ˈpeə.rən.tɪŋ/ US /ˈp
noun [U]
the raising of children and all the responsibilities and activities that are involved in it

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

parent

/peərənt/
(parents)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.
Your parents are your mother and father.
Children need their parents...
When you become a parent the things you once cared about seem to have less value.
N-COUNT: usu pl
see also foster parent, one-parent family, single parent

2.
An organization’s parent organization is the organization that created it and usually still controls it.
Each unit including the parent company has its own, local management.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

parent

par·ent /ˈperənt/ noun, pl -ents [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
- pa·ren·tal /pəˈrɛntl̩/ adj always used before a noun
• parental responsibility/consent