parcel
Americannoun
-
parcels
plural
-
an object, article, container, or quantity of something wrapped or packed up; small package; bundle.
-
a quantity or unit of something, as of a commodity for sale; lot.
-
a group, collection, or assemblage of persons or things.
- Synonyms:
- assortment, batch
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a distinct, continuous portion or tract of land.
-
a part, portion, or fragment.
verb (used with object)
adverb
noun
-
something wrapped up; package
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a group of people or things having some common characteristic
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a quantity of some commodity offered for sale; lot
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a distinct portion of land
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an essential part of something (esp in the phrase part and parcel )
verb
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(often foll by up) to make a parcel of; wrap up
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(often foll by out) to divide (up) into portions
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nautical to bind strips of canvas around (a rope)
adverb
Synonym Usage
See package.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of parcel
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Middle French parcelle, from unattested Late Latin particella, fresh formation for Latin particula; see particle, passel
Explanation
A parcel is a part of something, or a division. It can also be a package or a collection of things wrapped together. Parcel comes from the Anglo-Norman word for "part." Often when we use parcel to mean a part, we're talking about land, which is divided into definable (and purchasable) tracts. As a verb, parcel means to divide something into parts, just as after trick-or-treating you might parcel your candy stash into piles of chocolates, peppermints, or toffees. If you're selling the family farm, you might parcel it into four small plots.
Vocabulary lists containing parcel
"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Revolution in Our Time
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Located in the exclusive Madison Park community, the expansive abode overlooks Lake Washington and sits on a 1.9-acre parcel.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
“While the project followed standard approval processes for an industrially zoned parcel, we recognize the community wanted more engagement sooner, and we take that seriously,” Wehner said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Ukraine's ambassador Makeiev also pointed to the 2024 incident involving a DHL parcel in Leipzig.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
"It's part and parcel of information that assists the judge in reaching a fair and balanced decision in terms of sentencing," he told Good Morning Ulster.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
As they saw the parcel he realised my meaning.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
She was fastidious, using the company’s laboratory to analyze the tannins and colors of grapes in different parcels of the vineyard to craft specific types of wine, just as she had been taught in Bordeaux.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
To access a legitimate road, she’d have to bulldoze a driveway across two other parcels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
The tsunami of parcels generated by low-cost e-commerce giants has also been dealt a fresh blow by the scrapping of US tax exemptions for individual shipments valued less than $800.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
The 1.8-acre estate, which spans two adjacent parcels in the luxurious waterfront community, went into contract just one week after the agent began quietly marketing it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
“Nothing at all, madam,” he assured her, as he put the parcels into her arms and bowed again.
From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers
Down: We’re writing Season 5 right now, and without giving too much away, we’re approaching that season very differently in terms of how information’s parceled out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
The acres parceled out for Stratos all lie on private, unzoned property, and the landowners there had already granted their blessing.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2026
Certain credits are parceled out quarterly or even monthly, and premium cards can have the feel of a coupon book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
I scan the little slots until I find mine: a refill of Greek oregano, parceled out in a plastic baggie with a heat-sealed strip.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2025
She kept 48 hives strewn through the woods around the pink house, and another 280 were parceled out on various farms, in river yards and upland swamps.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
In the run-up to “One Battle After Another,” DiCaprio played the traditional role of the elusive movie star, parceling out access and promotional appearances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
The insurance department, in turn, has encouraged companies to ask for all the rate increases they need at once, rather than parceling out requests over time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
Front-line nurses, already parceling out a few minutes an hour to each patient under their care, say juggling unfamiliar products or adjusting to workarounds makes their jobs even more fraught.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2022
Narrative agency is what interests the author, her manner of parceling out information evoking at times the fragmentary and diaristic sensibilities of Jenny Offill’s “Dept. of Speculation.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2020
A dark night was falling, one of a different order from the soft, large, kind ones of childhood under the anacahuita tree, Pap£ parceling out futures and Mama fussing at his drinking.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Just open up a page and experience the meditative calm of reading alphabetized lists that are parcelled into neat little sections.
From Slate ● Feb. 14, 2020
Individual land ownership is often ineffectual for forests and rangelands, which lose their value when parcelled up.
From Economist ● Jul. 14, 2016
At the house, Alvarado filled Cox’s container from a five-gallon blue plastic water jug—ten litres for a hundred dollars, to be parcelled out in bottles that he would sell for three hundred apiece.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2016
When St Valentine was parcelled up and posted around the world, it was natural a piece of him was sent to St John's.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2016
That first captain walled their promontory, built their homes and shrines, and parcelled out the black land for the plow.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Congo-Brazzaville's government has already begun parcelling out blocks of land and looking for potential investors, although there is some uncertainty about the extent and significance of the oil reserves.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2022
Given all this filtering and parcelling out, it’s not surprising that memory is imperfect.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2014
And once you begin parcelling out roles rather than wrapping them together in a single nightmare bundle, it gets rather easier to find George Entwistle's successor.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 18, 2012
Popular in Czechoslovakia is the Government's policy of seizing the broad acres of great nobles and parcelling them out among the poor.
From Time Magazine Archive
At that time we find the Euphrates Valley divided into a series of states or principalities, parcelling North and South Babylonia between them.
From The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Morris Jastrow
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.
