parental

American  

[puh-ren-tl] / pəˈrɛn tl /

adjective

1. of or relating to a parent.

2. proper to or characteristic of a parent.

   parental feelings.

3. having the relation of a parent

4. Genetics. pertaining to the sequence of generations preceding the filial generation, each generation being designated by a P followed by a subscript number indicating its place in the sequence.

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noun

1. Also called parental unit.  Informal. one's parent.

   I'm headed for a vacation with the parentals.

Other Word Forms

• interparental adjective
• nonparental adjective
• nonparentally adverb
• parentally adverb
• postparental adjective
• unparental adjective
• unparentally adverb

Etymology

Origin of parental

First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin parentālis “of, belonging to parents,” equivalent to parent- “parent” + -ālis adjective suffix; parent, -al ¹

Example Sentences

Too often, that clarity gets obscured by parental expectations and the allure of a state-of-the-art fitness center.

From The Wall Street Journal

To investigate more broadly, the researchers analyzed the genomes of nearly 200 mice bred from eight different parental strains, including some with wild ancestry.

From Science Daily

Access to childcare can be highly dependent on your postcode, campaigners say, and parental leave pay fluctuates wildly, depending on the generosity of employers, while others rely solely on statutory maternity and paternity leave pay.

From BBC

This information was then used for targeted advertising without parental notice or consent.

From Los Angeles Times

The FTC had argued that, as a result of Disney's alleged failure to properly label children's videos, kids received targeted advertising and had their data collected without parental notice and consent.

From BBC

Related Words

• fatherly
• maternal
• paternal