Parental

//pəˈɹɛn.təl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
A person fulfilling a parental role.
"Nowadays there are all kinds of potential parentals besides parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, step-parents, in-laws, older siblings and cousins, and those in civil unions."

Adjective

1
Of or relating to a parent.
2
Befitting a parent; affectionate; tender.
3
Of the generation of organisms that produce a hybrid.
"This, following Bateson, we may call the parental generation or P generation. Subsequent generations are called filial generations (abbreviated F) and their numerical order is indicated by a subscript, [...]"

Adjective

1
relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent wordnet
2
designating the generation of organisms from which hybrid offspring are produced wordnet

Synonyms

adoring affectionate ancestorial ancestral conjugal covering

Antonyms

Example

"Young people can recognize this about romantic love, but they find it hard to accept the same fierce element in parental affection."

Etymology

From Middle French parental, from Latin parentālis, from parens (“parent”).

Related phrases

parental alienation parental alienation syndrome parental control parental duty parental figure parental home parental leave parental love parental rights parental unit parental control parental duty

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.