parent
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Someone who raises a child.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pehruhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɛɹənt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
often in the plural
A person who raises a child (which they have made, adopted, fostered, taken as their own, etc.).
often in the plural
A person who has had a baby; this person in relation to their child or children.
biology
An organism (plant or animal) from which younger ones are obtained
biology
An organism from which a plant or animal is immediately biologically descended.
The source or origin of something.
attributive
Sponsor, supporter, owner, protector.
verb
To act as parent, to raise or rear.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person who raises a child (which they have made, adopted, fostered, taken as their own, etc.).
Used this way, parent is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use parent
- “Every parent wants the best for their children, offering love and support.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Designating the generation of organisms from which hybrid offspring are produced.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A person who adopts a child of other parents as his or her own child.
A woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother).
A person who acts as parent and guardian for a child in place of the child's natural parents but without legally adopting the child.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A quality appropriate to a parent.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to act as parent or to raise or rear
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.