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:
The parcel will be preserved for recreational use, but specific plans won’t be decided until it’s donated to a public agency, according to Robert Moddelmog, who serves as Enforcement Counsel for the Coastal Commission.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
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
She was given her first by her parents when she was eight, in Christmas 1932, and remembers waking up and seeing a huge parcel all wrapped up.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 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
I cradled my parcel to my chest and began walking.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Ukrposhta does more than just collect letters and parcels.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Two city-owned parcels amounting to almost a half-acre of land were needed to build the museum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
As some machines demonstrated their ability to clean or recycle objects, others showed they could deliver parcels during a live demonstration in Brussels.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Davidson analyst Gil Luria called “one of the most important parcels of real estate in the AI market.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026
Even if Dad came he wouldn’t be much use because he never carries anything, parcels, bags, packages.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
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
A bare-bones framework of an agreement, sketched out on a single sheet of paper, the deal promises $125 million for a journalism fund that will be parceled out to local newsrooms over five years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2024
General Ryder said that 569 metric tons of aid had made it onto Gaza’s shore but that those supplies had yet to be parceled out by humanitarian organizations.
From New York Times ● May 21, 2024
But when the lands that the agrarian reform had parceled out were returned to their former owners, they were reassured: things were returning to the good old days.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
People are living longer, spending more on themselves and parceling out their riches in smaller doses to children and grandchildren.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 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
When the crowd - penned 10-deep all along the Mall for hours - surged into the area in front of the palace, you could have parcelled up the joy and sold it around the world.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2022
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
The Ottomans’ former Arab possessions were parcelled out as “mandates” under the new League of Nations: France got Syria and Lebanon while Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan went to Britain.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 16, 2017
Individual land ownership is often ineffectual for forests and rangelands, which lose their value when parcelled up.
From Economist ● Jul. 14, 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
If we ourselves are interested in the parcelling out of backward countries, we shall not be able to exert a restraining influence upon nations whose necessities are greater than ours.
From American World Policies by Walter E. Weyl
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.
