a coin and monetary unit of Macedonia and Serbia, one 100th of a dinar.
formerly, a coin and monetary unit of Yugoslavia, one 100th of a dinar.
Also called parity. a woman's status regarding the bearing of viable offspring: usually followed by a Roman numeral designating the number of times the woman has given birth.
the woman herself.
an estuary in N Brazil: an arm of the Amazon. 200 miles (320 km) long; 40 miles (65 km) wide.
a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, most often attached to verbs and verbal derivatives, with the meanings “at or to one side of, beside, side by side” (parabola; paragraph; parallel; paralysis ), “beyond, past, by” (paradox; paragogue ); by extension from these senses, this prefix came to designate objects or activities auxiliary to or derivative of that denoted by the base word (parody; paronomasia ), and hence abnormal or defective (paranoia ), a sense now common in modern scientific coinages (parageusia; paralexia ). As an English prefix, para-1 may have any of these senses; it is also productive in the naming of occupational roles considered ancillary or subsidiary to roles requiring more training, or of a higher status, on such models as paramedical and paraprofessional: paralegal; paralibrarian; parapolice .
Chemistry. a combining form designating the para (1, 4) position in the benzene ring. p-.
beside; near
parameter
parathyroid
beyond
parapsychology
resembling
paramnesia
defective; abnormal
paraesthesia
subsidiary to
paraphysis
p-. (usually in italics) denoting that an organic compound contains a benzene ring with substituents attached to atoms that are directly opposite across the ring (the 1,4- positions) Compare ortho- meta-
paradinitrobenzene
para-cresol
denoting an isomer, polymer, or compound related to a specified compound
paraldehyde
paracasein
denoting the form of a diatomic substance in which the spins of the two constituent atoms are antiparallel Compare ortho-
parahydrogen
a soldier in an airborne unit
an airborne unit
a paragraph
a state of N Brazil, on the Atlantic: mostly dense tropical rainforest Capital: Belém. Pop: 6 453 683 (2002). Area: 1 248 042 sq km (474 896 sq miles)
another name for Belém
an estuary in N Brazil into which flow the Tocantins River and a branch of the Amazon. Length: about 320 km (200 miles)
First recorded in 1905–10; from Serbo-Croatian pàra, from Turkish; see para 2
First recorded in 1680–90; from Turkish, from Persian pāra, literally, “piece”
First recorded in 1875–80; independent use of para- 1
By shortening of words compounded with para- 1, para- 3
First recorded in 1880–85; extracted from primipara ( def. ), multipara, etc.
< Greek para-, combining form representing pará (preposition) beside, alongside of, by, beyond
< French < Italian para, 3rd-person singular present of parare to prepare against, ward off < Latin parāre to prepare
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Dolomite ski resort of Cortina will play host to most of the action as it welcomes the wheelchair curling, para alpine skiing and para snowboarding.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
Milan's Santagiulia Arena will be the setting for the para ice hockey, while para biathlon and para cross-country skiing events will take place in Val di Fiemme.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
The Glasgow Commonwealth Games will take place from 23 July 23 to 2 August and feature 10 sports and six para sports.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2025
Miss Large says the growth of the para dance means she hopes that will change in the future.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025
She picks the phone up as if it had claws, and announces in a small voice, so unlike hers, “Buenos días, El Paraíso, para servirle.”
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Last December, prosecutors found that JBS had bought more than 85,000 cows from ranches that engaged in illegal deforestation in Pará, one of nine states in the Brazilian Amazon.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2023
Lilian Rebellato, a geoarchaeologist at the Federal University of Western Pará, agrees.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 19, 2023
While Pará is well-known as the epicentre of Brazil's deforestation, more recently it's also become an appealing prospect for another burgeoning forest industry - carbon credits.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2023
One of the scientists, João Bráullio de Luna Sales of the Federal University of Pará, bought a sample and sent the product to a lab in Norway for DNA testing.
From National Geographic ● Jul. 17, 2023
Here they began to see the first signs of the benefits of access to European sources of supply, by means of the vessel which went every year from Pará to Lisbon.
From Oregon and Eldorado or, Romance of the Rivers by Bulfinch, Thomas
It prizes performers and bands that do a lot of avoiding themselves: obscure or reclusive or misunderstood or intransigent or semi-extant, forerunners and satellites and outsiders, the post- and pre- and para-.
From New York Times ● Oct. 3, 2011
"The rhythm of his water drinking made her recognize the difference between sentences and paragraphs, that para- graphs are emotional and that sentences are not."
From Time Magazine Archive
The Road to Rome A little boy jumped with a para- chute made from a tablecloth, felt the parachute give way above him, felt the world come up beneath him, rolled over uninjured.
From Time Magazine Archive
Bob scanned a few pages of the folder and para- phrased while reading.
From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Schwartau, Winn
The aniline oils of commerce are very variable in character, the principal constituents being pure aniline, para- and meta-toluidine, xylidines, and cumidines.
From The Story of a Piece of Coal What It Is, Whence It Comes, and Whither It Goes by Martin, Edward A.
The principal actor in the procession was a priest or kinsman who wore a curious dress and an imposing head-ornament called a parae.
From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Vol. II by Frazer, James George, Sir
“If I’m in this situation, how many other paras are on the brink?”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 29, 2021
I was discharged from the Army with the rank of lieutenant, and now I’m a reservist in the paras.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 7, 2019
More than two decades later, with no sign of "les paras" coming to Bozize's rescue, his political future looks uncertain.
From Reuters ● Jan. 7, 2013
For the first three days," said one of Lagaillarde's lieutenants last week, "officers and men from the paras came inside the barricades and drank beer with us.
From Time Magazine Archive
The vignettes of the full set of the 1914 issue are: 2 paras, mauve.
From The Postage Stamp in War by Melville, Fred. J.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
