parents

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of parent.

   Many parents struggle to balance work and family during the summer.

   The adoptive parents traveled overseas to bring their daughter home.

   Note

   The plural is the form the noun most often takes, because people usually speak of their parents together rather than of one parent at a time. It covers anyone who raises a child, whether they made, adopted or fostered that child. An older use, now obsolete, meant simply relatives. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present-tense form, so in she parents well the word describes an action rather than naming anyone.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of parent.

   My sister parents her children with a firm but gentle hand.

   He parents three teenagers on his own while working two jobs.

   Note

   Here the noun has turned into a verb. To parent is to raise or rear a child, and parents is the form used with a singular subject: she parents, he parents. Plural subjects, the infinitive and commands use the bare form parent. A second, more technical use means giving other objects a parent object, so that they become its children.

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