parental

[puh-ren-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.

noun

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

   I'm headed for a vacation with the parentals.

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of parental¹

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

Example Sentences

Autism has a strong genetic component, scientists say, and some known risk factors such as older parental age might have contributed to the increase.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Users under 18 won’t be able to opt out without parental permission and parents will be able to place stricter restrictions on those accounts, the company said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Saturday's shooting in Thabazimbi, Limpopo province, has renewed concern over firearm safety and parental responsibility in the country.

Read more on BBC

Roughly two-thirds of the money teens spend in a year comes from parental contributions—which suggests that household heads may be curbing allowances.

Read more on Barron's

There are safeguards such as age verification and parental supervision in place on most social media platforms to protect young people from the negative effects of social media.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• fatherly 
• maternal 
• paternal