parrot
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.
a person who, without thought or understanding, merely repeats the words or imitates the actions of another.
to repeat or imitate without thought or understanding.
to teach to repeat or imitate in such a fashion.
Origin of parrot
1Other words from parrot
- par·rot·like, adjective
- par·rot·y, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use parrot in a sentence
This requires not just teaching to the test and not just parroting critiques.
Over there, “journalists,” such as they are, literally survive by parroting the government.
Meet the Censors, Propagandists and Outright Liars Who Won Putin’s Pulitzers | James Kirchick | May 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSome of what they said sounded like a rhetorical, if earnest, parroting of notions they'd heard from teachers.
Talking to Women of the Wall's Ultra-Orthodox Teenage Protesters | Elisheva Goldberg | November 6, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThey are parroting the old party line that always puts special interests ahead of the national interest.
Obama, Boehner & Congress Need to Get Fiscal-Cliff Deal Done Now | John Avlon | December 19, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTParroting another government line, the article raises the specter of a Russian intervention if postelection unrest flares.
Will Scandalous Videos Topple Georgia’s President? A Rebuttal | Tedo Japaridze | September 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
One of my draft is killed and five wounded and here everyone is parroting about a Merry Christmas.
Letters from Mesopotamia | Robert PalmerThat statement was made and I think it was—he was probably parroting somebody else that made the statement previously.
Warren Commission (8 of 26): Hearings Vol. VIII (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President KennedyLater he put it into Altrurian, and I memorized it, and made myself immensely popular by parroting it.
Through the Eye of the Needle | William Dean HowellsThe mere intonation of words unaccompanied by a strict knowledge of "that dumb, silent language," Pantomime, is only parroting.
A History of Pantomime | R. J. Broadbent"My translator is working badly," the voice of the elder was parroting.
The Ties That Bind | Walter Miller
British Dictionary definitions for parrot
/ (ˈpærət) /
any bird of the tropical and subtropical order Psittaciformes, having a short hooked bill, compact body, bright plumage, and an ability to mimic sounds: Related adjective: psittacine
a person who repeats or imitates the words or actions of another unintelligently
sick as a parrot usually facetious extremely disappointed
(tr) to repeat or imitate mechanically without understanding
Origin of parrot
1Derived forms of parrot
- parrotry, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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