# parental

Pronunciation: say "puh-REN-tuhl" US/UK /pəˈɹɛn.təl/, AUS /pəˈɹen.təl/

## Adjective

1. Having to do with a parent or with the role of being one.
   - Simple: Connected with a mother or father, or with being one.
   - _The clinic requires parental consent before treating any minor._
   - _Many parental duties fall on both partners equally._
2. Showing the warmth, care, and tenderness that suits a loving parent.
   - Simple: Kind and caring in the way a good parent is.
   - _The old coach took a parental interest in every young player._
   - _She spoke with a parental gentleness that calmed the whole room._
3. Relating to the generation of organisms that crossbreed to produce a hybrid.
   - Simple: Belonging to the parent plants or animals whose young is a mix of two types.
   - _Both parental strains were homozygous for the trait being tracked._
   - _Geneticists recorded which features appeared in the parental generation before the cross._

## Noun

4. Someone who takes on the responsibilities and role of a parent for another person.
   - Simple: A person who acts as a parent to someone.
   - _With both parents working abroad, her aunt became the parental who signed permission slips and showed up for teacher conferences._
   - _In the commune, several adults served as parentals for all the children._

## Origin

From Middle French parental, from Latin parentālis, which comes from parens meaning "parent."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/parental (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).