parents 1 of 2

noun

plural of parent
as in mothers
a person who brings forth and raises a child The couple recently became parents for the first time. She grew up in a single parent household.

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parents

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of parent
as in raises
to bring forth and raise to maturity through care and education They expertly parent their second child using all the lessons learned from raising their first.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of parents
Noun
As Novak repeated the phrase, Kirk's parents, widow and other relatives were in court. — Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 2 Sep. 2026 When locals accuse them of possible child abuse and their kids are taken away, the parents have to defend their beliefs and actions in court. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026 As prosecutors made their closing arguments, Charlie Kirk’s parents, Rob and Kathryn Kirk, and his widow, Erika Kirk, were visibly emotional and appeared to comfort each other at various times. — Andi Babineau, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026 Dozens of other parents who brought their children to government-run Valika Hospital say their kids got HIV after being treated there too. — Betsy Joles, NPR, 2 Sep. 2026 Collectors and parents began sending Hoban photos of their own childhood playhouses, helping identify rare models, missing accessories and even how certain sets originally looked. — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 2 Sep. 2026 The second of four children, Cusk had a strained relationship with her parents. — René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Sep. 2026 The Den, a subterranean hangout just down the stairs, feels like the Platonic ideal of hanging out in your parents’ basement, with plenty of seating and a pool and backgammon table to play around on. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Sep. 2026 Uber is letting parents watch live video of their teens’ rides through drivers’ front-facing phone cameras, expanding its teen accounts program aimed at boosting safety and transparency. — Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
Verb
The influence on how each generation parents their children is striking as well. — Sari Hitchins, Parents, 11 June 2026 Looking ahead, the pair plan to relocate to Florida, though Andrew will split his time between the Sunshine State and Baltimore as he co-parents his two daughters. — Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 2 Apr. 2026 Fellow plaintiff parents Brandy Roberts and Joann Bogard also snagged seats and joined Rodriguez in the back row of the courtroom to watch Zuckerberg’s testimony. — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 18 Feb. 2026 Waukesha School District parents Joe Burke and Sean Shurbet have questioned the district's enrollment data, saying the City of Waukesha's data shows current and projected growth that contradicts district data. — Alec Johnson, jsonline.com, 15 Aug. 2025 That seems like an eternity ago to Cane babies born that year and perhaps now parents themselves. — Greg Cote Miami Herald, Arkansas Online, 26 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for parents
  1. mothers
  2. raises
  3. moms
  4. nurtures
  5. nurses
  6. fosters
Noun
  • Midwives and doulas work alongside OB-GYNs and support mothers who want to avoid a delivery by cesarean section unless necessary.
    — Noam Levey, NPR, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Both grooms wrote their own vows, but one of the ceremony’s most memorable roles belonged to Zuckerman’s 90-year-old grandmother, who served as their flower girl and walked alongside both of their mothers.
    — Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of mothers
Verb
  • And autonomy raises the cost of error, because outputs turn into actions.
    — Emily Lewis-Pinnell, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • The Federal Open Market Committee typically raises rates to help tame inflation, which rose faster than paychecks over the year in July and has remained above the Fed’s 2% target for five years.
    — Rachel Barber, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of raises
Noun
  • The California State Senate passed a bill Thursday to regulate potential toxins in diapers — a product moms, dads and caregivers may use up to 8,000 times before a child is potty-trained.
    — Sandee LaMotte, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The moms, dads, wives, husbands, daughters and sons whose lives were upended.
    — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of moms
Verb
  • Packed with potent ingredients like isopropyl cloprostenate, amino acids, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin E, this formula nurtures and enhances your brows from the root.
    — Iman Balagam, Vogue, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Parentheses, turning the inside of a sentence out and the outside in, ask readers to shuttle back and forth, exercising mental agility that nurtures a flexible set of thoughts and feelings.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of nurtures
Verb
  • Ultimately, Etna’s closest bond is with the itinerant medic Hong who nurses his emaciated, shrapnel-scarred body.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Rachel dates a shoe store operator named Lou (Bob Hoskins), while Charlotte nurses a crush on her handsome young school bus driver and flirts with Catholicism to the chagrin of her Jewish mother.
    — David Faris, TheWeek, 17 July 2026
Definition of nurses
Verb
  • The goal must be AI that fosters individual growth, not just frictionless output.
    — Glenn Llopis, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • What other employer fosters acts of torture in the workplace?
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of fosters

Browse Nearby Words

parenting
parents
pares
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Cite this Entry

“Parents.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parents. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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