parentage
Americannoun
-
derivation or descent from parents or ancestors; birth, origin, or lineage.
a man of distinguished parentage.
- Synonyms:
- stock, extraction, ancestry
-
the state or relation of a parent; parenthood.
noun
-
ancestry
-
derivation from a particular origin
-
rare parenthood
Etymology
Origin of parentage
From Middle French, dating back to 1480–90; see origin at parent, -age
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.
The birth of a beautiful child to a couple in an Italian town is a cause for celebration, until the father’s suspicions about the boy’s true parentage grow into a dangerous obsession.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
In its place, the Reconstruction Congress adopted the broad view of citizenship based on the place of birth, not parentage, that had been part of English law for centuries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
He sought to invalidate the surrogacy contract as unconstitutional, denying the couple’s claim of parentage over their child.
From Slate ● May 13, 2026
Uthmeier’s theory would render this presumption unconstitutional, because it allows a non-biological father to assert parentage while severing the biological father’s claim to the child.
From Slate ● May 13, 2026
I often wondered whether she was a person of mixed parentage.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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.
