Jump To:

• park
  park

  noun

  an area of land, usually in a largely natural state, for the enjoyment of the public, having facilities for rest and recreation, often owned, set apart, and managed by a city, state, or nation.
• Park
  Park

  noun

  Mungo 1771–1806?, Scottish explorer in Africa.

park

¹ American  

[pahrk] / pɑrk /

noun

• parks
  plural

1. an area of land, usually in a largely natural state, for the enjoyment of the public, having facilities for rest and recreation, often owned, set apart, and managed by a city, state, or nation.

2. an enclosed area or a stadium used for sports.

   a baseball park.

3. a considerable extent of land forming the grounds of a country house.

4. British. a tract of land reserved for wild animals; game preserve.

5. Western U.S. a broad valley in a mountainous region.

6. a space where vehicles, especially automobiles, may be assembled or stationed.

7. amusement park.

8. theme park.

9. any area set aside for public recreation.

10. Military.

    1. the space occupied by the assembled guns, tanks, or vehicles of a military unit.

    2. the assemblage so formed.

    3. (formerly) the ammunition trains and reserve artillery of an army.

11. Automotive. a setting in an automatic transmission in which the transmission is in neutral and the brake is engaged.

---

verb (used with object)

• parks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• parked,
  past participle,  past
• parking
  present participle

1. to place or leave (a vehicle) in a certain place for a period of time.

2. Informal. to put, leave, or settle.

   Park your coat on the chair. Park yourself over there for a moment.

3. to assemble (equipment or supplies) in a military park.

4. to enclose in or as in a park.

5. Informal. to invest (funds) in a stock, bond, etc., considered to be a safe investment with little chance of depreciation, as during a recession or an unstable economic period, or until one finds a more profitable investment.

6. Aerospace. to place (a satellite) in orbit.

verb (used without object)

• parks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• parked,
  past participle,  past
• parking
  present participle

1. to park a car, bicycle, etc.

2. Informal. to engage in kissing and caressing in a parked car.

Park ² American  

[pahrk] / pɑrk /

noun

1. Mungo 1771–1806?, Scottish explorer in Africa.

2. Robert E., 1864–1944, U.S. sociologist.

---

park ¹ British  

/ pɑːk /

noun

1. a large area of land preserved in a natural state for recreational use by the public See also national park

2. a piece of open land in a town with public amenities

3. an area, esp of mountain country, reserved for recreational purposes

4. a large area of land forming a private estate

5. English law an enclosed tract of land where wild beasts are protected, acquired by a subject by royal grant or prescription Compare forest

6. an area designed and landscaped to accommodate a group of related enterprises, businesses, research establishments, etc

   science park

7. See amusement park

8. See car park

9. a playing field or sports stadium

10. informal a soccer pitch

11. a gear selector position on the automatic transmission of a motor vehicle that acts as a parking brake

12. the area in which the equipment and supplies of a military formation are assembled

13. a high valley surrounded by mountains in the western US

---

verb

1. to stop and leave (a vehicle) temporarily

2. to manoeuvre (a motor vehicle) into a space for it to be left

   try to park without hitting the kerb

3. stock exchange to register (securities) in the name of another or of nominees in order to conceal their real ownership

4. informal (tr) to leave or put somewhere

   park yourself in front of the fire

5. (intr) military to arrange equipment in a park

6. (tr) to enclose in or as a park

Park ² British  

/ pɑːk /

noun

1. Mungo (ˈmʌŋɡəʊ). 1771–1806, Scottish explorer. He led two expeditions (1795–97; 1805–06) to trace the course of the Niger in Africa. He was drowned during the second expedition

2. Nick, full name Nicholas Wulstan Park. born 1958, British animator and film director; his films include A Grand Day Out (1992), which introduced the characters Wallace and Gromit, and the feature-length Chicken Run (2000)

3. Chung Hee. (ˈtʃʊŋ ˈhiː). 1917–79, South Korean politician; president of the Republic of Korea (1963–79); assassinated

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• parker
  noun
• superpark
  noun
• overpark
  verb
• repark
  verb
• parklike
  adjective
• unparked
  adjective
• well-parked
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• parks
  plural

Participles

• parking
  present
• parked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• park
  simple
• parks
  simple
• have parked
  perfect
• has parked
  perfect
• am parking
  progressive
• are parking
  progressive
• is parking
  progressive
• have been parking
  perfect progressive
• has been parking
  perfect progressive

Past

• parked
  simple
• had parked
  perfect
• was parking
  progressive
• were parking
  progressive
• had been parking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will park
  simple
• will have parked
  perfect
• will be parking
  progressive
• will have been parking
  perfect progressive

---

Etymology

Origin of park

1225–75; Middle English (noun) < Old French parc enclosure < Late Latin *parricus < West Germanic *parruk ( see paddock ¹)

---

Explanation

A park is an outdoor green space that people use for recreation. People can also park a car, which is to pull into a parking space and stop. Just don’t park your car in a park. Unless you’re a squirrel. A city park usually has playgrounds, sports fields, walking paths, grass, and trees. There are also larger tracts of wild public land also known as parks, and these often have hiking trails, mountains, or bodies of water. Park is a verb too, meaning "drive into a parking space," so you could park your scooter at the park. Originally this verb referred exclusively to military vehicles, but by 1844 you could park any vehicle at all.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

park Park parks parked parking

After the children were taken into custody by the Department of Children and Family Services last year they were “scared to go to the park because they hadn’t been outside,” Teymouri said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

"Three or four years ago, due to illness, I thought that I may not ever have a gentle walk around a park again," she said.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

The hotel hosts special trips during the festival, led by a local astronomer, and runs visits to various sites and events across the park.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

The death toll from the floods rose to three when authorities found a man's body near a park in the Kagithane area on the European side, Gul's office said in a statement.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Danny started to consider what a strange place a park would be to find an irreplaceable book, but his eyes kept finding different things to be distracted by.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

The smoke is a direct consequence of the fires, which four people lost their lives battling in East Java's Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on Thursday, Indonesia's forestry ministry said in a statement.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

But hundreds of young protesters defied the crackdown to march close to Connaught Place's Central Park, many of them waving flags in a show of defiance.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

William Chapman, 24, visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster on Saturday and entered the animal's pen.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

On the afternoon of Game 4, with the New York Yankees looking to beat Derek Lowe and sweep the Sox, Boston’s Kevin Millar stepped on the field at Fenway Park and issued a warning.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

Kate struggled on, living with her sons a few blocks from Central Park in a dingy apartment.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Plans include a Year of Creative Youth, an Olympic arts education curriculum being developed with the Olympic Museum in Switzerland, and outreach through parks, libraries and cultural venues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

So far, the company has sought to streamline its operations by cutting staff and weaker-performing parks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

With Barbie sales slipping, Mattel is looking to its characters and games to build a new revenue stream: water parks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

"Keeping NCP's car parks open also helps keep Britain's town and city centres moving," he added.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

“You should come with us to Florida. My dad gets all-access passes for the parks down there. We could ride roller coasters all day if we wanted. Between eating nachos, I mean.”

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

Dramatic footage posted online late Wednesday and collated by DHA showed a line of parked cars in the northern Sariyer district being pushed into the torrent of muddy water, where they were swept away.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

The money parked in those investments at Delaware Life and Clear Spring represents the savings of hundreds of thousands of Americans, including Phillips and Kalinsky.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

During the second attempt, the process server allegedly spotted four vehicles parked in the driveway, but no one answered the door.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

Alejandro, 13, said that the sight of his father’s red and black Monte Carlo parked outside of their family home “just makes me miss him a lot.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

Then I notice a strange car parked on the Mumford cul-de-sac.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

A few cars and bicycles remained stranded in the parking lot.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

The walk to the waterfall from a nearby parking lot would take 40 minutes each way, along undulating and uneven terrain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Disabled Motoring UK and Equal Lives, two Norfolk-based disability charities, previously warned blue badge users frequently face abuse and suspicion from other drivers when parking in disabled bays.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

In 1996, when Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan asked owner Peter O’Malley to abandon his plan to build an NFL stadium in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, O’Malley stood down.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

I walk backward a few steps before spinning on my heel and jogging across the parking lot toward the gravel road.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• estate
• forest
• garden
• lawn
• place
• playground
• plaza
• square

---