parole
1 Americannoun
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Penology.
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the conditional release of a person from prison prior to the end of the maximum sentence imposed.
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such release or its duration.
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an official document authorizing such a release.
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Military.
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the promise, usually written, of a prisoner of war, that if released they either will return to custody at a specified time or will not again take up arms against their captors.
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(formerly) any password given by authorized personnel in passing by a guard.
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word of honor given or pledged.
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(in U.S. immigration laws) the temporary admission of non-U.S. citizens into the United States for emergency reasons or on grounds considered in the public interest, as authorized by and at the discretion of the attorney general.
verb (used with object)
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to place or release on parole.
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to admit (a non-U.S. citizen) into the United States for emergency reasons or on grounds considered in the public interest.
An increased number of Hungarian refugees were paroled into the United States.
adjective
noun
noun
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the freeing of a prisoner before his sentence has expired, on the condition that he is of good behaviour
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the duration of such conditional release
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a promise given by a prisoner, as to be of good behaviour if granted liberty or partial liberty
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a variant spelling of parol
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military a password
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linguistics language as manifested in the individual speech acts of particular speakers Compare langue performance competence
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conditionally released from detention
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informal (of a person) under scrutiny, esp for a recurrence of an earlier shortcoming
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verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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parolesimple
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parolessimple
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have paroledperfect
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has paroledperfect
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am parolingprogressive
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are parolingprogressive
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is parolingprogressive
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have been parolingperfect progressive
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has been parolingperfect progressive
Past
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paroledsimple
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had paroledperfect
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was parolingprogressive
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were parolingprogressive
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had been parolingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of parole
First recorded in 1610–20; from Middle French, short for parole d'honneur “word of honor”. See parol
Explanation
If you're in prison, after serving a few years you might be let out on parole, a promise to be good and check in regularly. Parole comes from the French for "word," and means "word of honor." You'll most frequently hear it in relation to prisoners, who promise to fulfill certain conditions in return for an early release from jail. When the officials are trying to decide whether a prisoner is ready for parole, they have a parole hearing. Parole can also mean "password." If you're part of an underground revolutionary group, you'll need a parole to help keep your meetings secret. Just say the word at the door, and they'll let you in.
Vocabulary lists containing parole
Freak the Mighty
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Seedfolks
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Touching Spirit Bear
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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:
Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Gray to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm said sentencing juveniles to life imprisonment without parole was unusual because of their youth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Once that term has been completed, offenders remain in prison until the parole board decides they can be freed.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Under his plea deal with US authorities, Zambada faced a mandatory minimum term of life imprisonment without parole on a racketeering charge.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
On the other hand—well, would Kansas send four Special Agents a thousand miles to pick up a small-time pair of parole violators?
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Initially, both sides assumed that the familiar practice of cartels and paroles would be maintained.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
The revocation, she ruled, would have to be on a case-by-case basis, just as their paroles had been granted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2025
Like the board of pardons and paroles, Abbott was unmoved.
From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2024
The paroles board on Tuesday voted 7-0 against commuting Speer’s death sentence to a lesser penalty.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2023
"Their paroles are not worth the paper they are written on," he roared.
From The Courier of the Ozarks by Dunn, Byron A. (Byron Archibald)
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the U.S. government was bound by a Biden-era court settlement to expedite asylum claims of Afghans paroled into the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
"This is an ongoing sentence from which I can never be paroled."
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
Working at one of the state’s 35 minimum-security fire camps is a voluntary and coveted job, giving inmates a chance to spend time outside prison walls, help their communities and get paroled more quickly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025
They presented themselves at an undisclosed border entry, were processed and were paroled in the U.S., according to court documents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2025
That stupid guy had been paroled briefly to serve as director at Camp Half-Blood.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
South Koreans have been divided over whether Mr. Lee was worth paroling.
From New York Times ● Aug. 9, 2021
The HSI agent also wrote out a formal order paroling one of Mr. Sargsyan’s Armenian relatives into the U.S., and got his supervisor to sign off, Mr. Sargsyan says.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 29, 2020
“State paroling systems vary so much that it is almost impossible to compare them,” Jorge Renaud, an analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative, a think tank, wrote in a report earlier this year.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 25, 2019
But Johnson has said that the Michigan Parole Board has never expressed interest in paroling him.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2018
On the same day the Raleigh and Baltimore secured the surrender of the batteries on Corregidor Island, paroling the garrison and destroying the guns.
From The Boys of '98 by Otis, James
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.
