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• para
  para

  noun

  a coin and monetary unit of Macedonia and Serbia, one 100th of a dinar.
• Pará
  Pará

  noun

  an estuary in N Brazil: an arm of the Amazon. 200 miles (320 km) long; 40 miles (65 km) wide.
• para-
  para-

  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 .
• Para.
  Para.

  abbreviation

  Paraguay.

para

¹ American  

[pah-rah, pahr-ah] / pɑˈrɑ, ˈpɑr ɑ /

noun

• paras,
  plural
• para
  plural

1. a coin and monetary unit of Macedonia and Serbia, one 100th of a dinar.

2. formerly, a coin and monetary unit of Yugoslavia, one 100th of a dinar.

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para ² American  

[pah-rah, pahr-ah] / pɑˈrɑ, ˈpɑr ɑ /

noun

• paras,
  plural
• para
  plural

1. a former copper coin of Turkey, the 40th part of a piaster.

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para ³ American  

[par-uh] / ˈpær ə /

adjective

Chemistry.

1. pertaining to or occupying two positions (1, 4) in the benzene ring that are separated by two carbon atoms.

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noun

1. para-dichlorobenzene.

para ⁴ American  

[par-uh] / ˈpær ə /

noun

Informal.

1. paraprofessional.

2. paratrooper.

3. paragraph.

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para ⁵ American  

[par-uh] / ˈpær ə /

noun

Obstetrics.

• paras,
  plural
• parae
  plural

1. 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.

2. the woman herself.

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Pará ⁶ American  

[pah-rah] / pɑˈrɑ /

noun

1. an estuary in N Brazil: an arm of the Amazon. 200 miles (320 km) long; 40 miles (65 km) wide.

2. Belém.

3. Pará rubber.

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para- ⁷ American  

1. 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 .

2. Chemistry. a combining form designating the para (1, 4) position in the benzene ring. p-.

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para- ⁸ American  

1. a combining form meaning “guard against,” occurring in loanwords from French, or, via French, from Italian: parachute; parasol .

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para- ⁹ American  

1. a combining form extracted from parachute, forming compounds denoting persons or things utilizing parachutes or landed by parachute: paradrop; paradoctor; paraglider; paratrooper .

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Para. ¹⁰ American  

abbreviation

1. Paraguay.

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para- ¹ British  

prefix

1. beside; near

   parameter

   parathyroid

2. beyond

   parapsychology

3. resembling

   paramnesia

4. defective; abnormal

   paraesthesia

5. subsidiary to

   paraphysis

6.  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

7. denoting an isomer, polymer, or compound related to a specified compound

   paraldehyde

   paracasein

8. denoting the form of a diatomic substance in which the spins of the two constituent atoms are antiparallel Compare ortho-

   parahydrogen

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para ² British  

/ ˈpærə /

noun

1. 1. a soldier in an airborne unit

   2. an airborne unit

2. a paragraph

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Pará ³ British  

/ paˈra /

noun

1. 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)

2. another name for Belém

3. an estuary in N Brazil into which flow the Tocantins River and a branch of the Amazon. Length: about 320 km (200 miles)

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para ⁴ British  

/ ˈpɑːrə /

noun

1. a monetary unit of Serbia worth one hundredth of a dinar; formerly a monetary unit of Yugoslavia

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para- ⁵ British  

combining form

1. indicating an object that acts as a protection against something

   parachute

   parasol

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para ⁶ British  

/ ˈpɑːrɑː /

noun

1. Also called: horseshoe fern.   king fern.  a New Zealand fern, Marattia salicina , with long heavy fronds

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• para
  plural
• parae
  plural
• paras
  plural

Etymology

Origin of para¹

First recorded in 1905–10; from Serbo-Croatian pàra, from Turkish; see para ²

Origin of para²

First recorded in 1680–90; from Turkish, from Persian pāra, literally, “piece”

Origin of para³

First recorded in 1875–80; independent use of para- ¹

Origin of para⁴

By shortening of words compounded with para- ¹, para- ³

Origin of para⁵

First recorded in 1880–85; extracted from primipara ( def. ), multipara, etc.

Origin of para-⁷

< Greek para-, combining form representing pará (preposition) beside, alongside of, by, beyond

Origin of para-⁸

< French < Italian para, 3rd-person singular present of parare to prepare against, ward off < Latin parāre to prepare

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

para Pará para- parae paras

After losing his leg as a teenager, surfer Llywelyn Williams became a four-times para surfing world champion.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Once the action starts, one star to watch will be British para snowboarder Davy Zyw, who will become the first man with motor neurone disease to compete in a Winter Paralympics.

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

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

Every year, up to 550,000 tons of acai pits are created after the pulp is extracted from the seed—mostly in Pará, which accounts for 95 percent of the world’s production.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 14, 2023

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

Belém's well-placed too, as the capital of Pará, the most deforested state in all of Brazil.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2023

Feijó inherited from the former regency the two most formidable revolutions which so far had broken out—that of Vinagre and Malcher in Pará, and the great rebellion in Rio Grande do Sul.

From The South American Republics Part I of II by Thomas C. Dawson

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

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 Edward A. Martin

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 Winn Schwartau

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 Sir James George Frazer

“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

One of the bestselling items is a spiral punk made in China and thought by the paras to be the best defense against the horde of mosquitoes.

From Time Magazine Archive

Roumelia.—This province of Turkey begins its stamp history with a postal card of the value of 10 paras, as expressed on the face, but in reality of 15 paras, at which it is sold.

From Harper's Young People, June 8, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various