parlor

American  

[pahr-ler] / ˈpɑr lər /

especially British, parlour

noun

• parlors
  plural

1. Older Use. a room for the reception and entertainment of visitors to one's home; living room.

2. a room, apartment, or building serving as a place of business for certain businesses or professions.

   funeral parlor; beauty parlor.

3. a somewhat private room in a hotel, club, or the like for relaxation, conversation, etc.; lounge.

4. Also called locutorium. a room in a monastery or the like where the inhabitants may converse with visitors or with each other.

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adjective

1. advocating something, as a political view or doctrine, at a safe remove from actual involvement in or commitment to action.

   parlor leftism; parlor pink.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• parlors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of parlor

1175–1225; Middle English parlur < Anglo-French; Old French parleor, equivalent to parl ( er ) to speak ( see parle) + -eor -or ²

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Explanation

A parlor is a living room or a sitting room, the place in your house with comfortable chairs and sofas. You might also decide to put your giant new TV in the parlor. The noun parlor is an old-fashioned one. Still, almost anyone would know what you meant if you invited them to join you in the parlor for tea. These days, a hotel, inn, or historic house is more likely to have a parlor than a private home is. The thirteenth century version, parlur, meant "room in a monastery for holding conversations." The "conversations" part stems from parler, "to speak" in French.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

parlor parlors

Bruna Subashi, an energetic woman in her 40s, asked to convene in a luridly pink dessert parlor on Vlore’s waterfront called Big Scoop.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

The charge was eventually dropped after a court ruled that video and audio from secretly installed cameras at the massage parlor could not be used as evidence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Often I’d sign on to read the takes of sharp commenters over the writers who provided the digital parlor.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

Backbiting seemed like a favored parlor game in the Concord environs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Partridge had heard Kate’s spirits make the sounds of a ship at sea and had watched as furniture mysteriously drifted about the parlor.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

While the makers of these apps insist they are “future exchanges,” not digital gambling parlors, regulators in places like Singapore, France, Belgium and elsewhere aren’t convinced and have banned the platforms altogether.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

Don’t take our word for it—take a gander at developments in commodity prices besides energy, or financial gaming parlors such as the private-credit market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

“You would see them play in pizza parlors in Portland. They would hang out with fans after the show; they were very approachable.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024

Her paintings are set amid the privileged spaces of 19th-century parlors and gardens, where women sew or read or nurse an infant, uninterrupted by men.

From New York Times ● May 16, 2024

In those days Greek immigrants were beginning to use funeral parlors, but Sourmelina insisted that the viewing be held at home.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

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Related Words

• drawing room
• living room
• lounge
• salon

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