parrot
Americannoun
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any of numerous hook-billed, often brilliantly colored birds of the order Psittaciformes, as the cockatoo, lory, macaw, or parakeet, having the ability to mimic speech and often kept as pets.
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a person who, without thought or understanding, merely repeats the words or imitates the actions of another.
verb (used with object)
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to repeat or imitate without thought or understanding.
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to teach to repeat or imitate in such a fashion.
noun
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any bird of the tropical and subtropical order Psittaciformes, having a short hooked bill, compact body, bright plumage, and an ability to mimic sounds
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a person who repeats or imitates the words or actions of another unintelligently
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facetious extremely disappointed
verb
Other Word Forms
- parrotlike adjective
- parrotry noun
- parroty adjective
Etymology
Origin of parrot
1515–25; apparently < Middle French P ( i ) errot, diminutive of Pierre ( parakeet ), though a comparable sense of the French word is not known until the 18th century
Explanation
A parrot is a brightly colored tropical bird with a distinctly loud voice. If you see someone calling a colorful bird "Polly" and asking it if it wants a cracker, that's a parrot. Parrots are popular pets because many of them have the ability to mimic sounds they hear, sometimes including human speech. In fact, this skill has led to a secondary meaning of the word parrot, "mimic mindlessly." You could say, for example, "I'm not going to just parrot everything the teacher says — I'm no parrot." The origin of the word is uncertain, although we know that before parrot, this bird was called a popinjay.
Vocabulary lists containing parrot
A Vocabulary Bestiary: Animals That Behave as Verbs
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Amazing Animals, A-Z
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Amazing Animals, List 3
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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.
Lola the parrot is home after airport charm offense.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026
Efforts to reunite the parrot with its owner are ongoing.
From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026
Kids are entitled to a well-rounded education that teaches them to be better people, not just parrot information.
From Salon • Mar. 30, 2026
The site contains a large collection of fossils dating back about 1 million years, including a previously unknown ancestor of the kākāpō, a large flightless parrot.
From Science Daily • Mar. 26, 2026
It was a real parrot, make no mistake.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
