Meaning & use
parent
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person's mother or father, the one who gave birth to or raised them.
Grammar: Countable: both parents work; my parent is a nurse.
Patterns
- a parent of someone
- parents of someone
Both of my parents grew up in the same town.
Every parent worries when a child is late.
The school invited parents to an evening meeting.
nouncountable
An adult who takes care of a child, whether or not related by birth.
Grammar: Often with adjectives: a single parent, an adoptive parent.
Patterns
- a single parent
- an adoptive parent
She is a single parent and works two jobs.
The couple became foster parents last year.
An adoptive parent has the same legal rights as a birth parent.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To care for and raise a child, guiding them as they grow up.
Grammar: Takes an object or stands alone: parent a teenager, or parent well.
Patterns
- parent a child
- parent well
They parent their children with patience.
She learned to parent alone after the divorce.
He is parenting two toddlers and a baby.
nouncountablebusiness
An organization, plant, animal, or thing that gives rise to or controls another.
Grammar: Often before another noun: a parent company, a parent plant.
Patterns
- the parent of something
- parent company
The local shop is owned by a large parent company.
The seedlings resemble the parent plant.
The parent of the new club was an older society.
Word forms
| plural | parents |
|---|---|
| third person singular | parents |
| past tense | parented |
| past participle | parented |
| -ing form | parenting |
Common combinations
- a single parent
- She is a single parent of twins.
- a stay-at-home parent
- He became a stay-at-home parent after the baby arrived.
- parent company
- The parent company announced a merger.
- a proud parent
- I felt like a proud parent at the recital.
- ask a parent
- Ask a parent to sign the form.
- parent and child
- The class is for parent and child together.
Synonyms and how they differ
- guardian
- Guardian is a legal or caring role that may not involve birth or adoption, whereas parent is the basic family word.
- mother or father
- Mother or father names the specific person, while parent is gender-neutral.
- caregiver
- Caregiver can mean anyone who takes care of a person, not always a child's family.
- raise
- Raise is the usual verb for bringing up a child, but parent can sound more formal or modern.
Opposites
Word family
- parental adjective
- relating to a parent
- parenthood noun
- the state of being a parent
- parenting noun
- the work of raising children
- parentage noun
- a person's parents and family background
- grandparent noun
- the parent of someone's parent
Commonly confused: parent or parental? parent or parenting?
parent vs parental
Parental is an adjective, as in parental consent, while parent is the noun for the person.
parent vs parenting
Parenting is the noun for the activity of raising children, as in good parenting, while parent names the person.
Practice
The schoolteacher asked every ______ to sign the permission slip.
Choose one answer.
Parent is the noun needed after every. Parental is an adjective, parenting names the activity, and parented is a past verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “parent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.