parity

1 of 2

noun (1)

par·​i·​ty ˈper-ə-tē How to pronounce parity (audio)
ˈpa-rə-
plural parities
1
: the quality or state of being equal or equivalent
Women have fought for parity with men in the workplace.
2
a
: equivalence of a commodity price expressed in one currency to its price expressed in another
The two currencies are approaching parity for the first time in decades.
b
: equality of purchasing power established by law between different kinds of money at a given ratio
3
: an equivalence between farmers' current purchasing power and their purchasing power at a selected base period maintained by government support of agricultural commodity prices
parity is the price calculated to give the farmer a fair return in relation to the things he must buy.New York Times
4
a
: the property of an integer with respect to being odd or even
3 and 7 have the same parity
b(1)
: the state of being odd or even used as the basis of a method of detecting errors in binary-coded data (see binary entry 2 sense 5)
(2)
5
: the property of oddness or evenness of a quantum mechanical function
6
: the symmetry of behavior in an interaction of a physical entity (such as a subatomic particle) with that of its mirror image (see mirror image sense 1a)

parity

2 of 2

noun (2)

: the state or fact of having borne offspring
also : the number of children previously borne

Did you know?

Parity has special meanings in such fields as physics, math, medicine, genetics, and marketing. Back when the Soviet Union and the U.S. were opposing superpowers, there was often talk of parity in nuclear weapons between the two sides. We sometimes hear about parity between mental and physical health in insurance coverage, or parity in colleges' funding of men's and women's athletics. But parity may be most common in discussions of currencies. The exchange rate between two national currencies often changes every day, as each drifts higher or lower, and occasionally two similar currencies, such as the euro and the U.S. dollar, will achieve parity, but it rarely lasts long.

Examples of parity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The official selection includes 165 films from 50 countries, with gender parity for the second-year running, and no fewer than 88 world premieres, making VdR the place to be in April on the international non-fiction film calendar. Lise Pedersen, Variety, 19 Mar. 2024 The industry’s overdue crawl toward gender parity has been reflected in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s recent induction classes, which were once quite testosterone-heavy (fully shutting out women as recently as 2016) but have begun to welcome more women into the Hall’s ranks each year. Joe Lynch, Billboard, 8 Mar. 2024 Gender parity gap remains Women still face challenges getting equal pay and leadership positions. Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2024 Her studies have focused on potty parity – the idea that men and women should have equal speed of access to restrooms. Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 3 Feb. 2024 Indeed, less than 0.1% of the Black population actually lives in a county or city even close to parity. Sydney Lake, Fortune, 2 Feb. 2024 For them, any net loss in or even maintaining the current level of representation stalls progress toward gender parity. Kelly Dittmar, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 In a season of parity, the City Section basketball championships should produce close, competitive finals this weekend. Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 21 Feb. 2024 If India expanded its nuclear stockpile, historical patterns suggest its archrival, Pakistan, would likely seek parity. Andrew S. Erickson, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'parity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Latin paritas, from par equal

Noun (2)

-parous

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1572, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1877, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of parity was in 1572

Dictionary Entries Near parity

Cite this Entry

“Parity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parity. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

parity

noun
par·​i·​ty
ˈpar-ət-ē
plural parities
: the quality or state of being equal or equivalent : equality

Medical Definition

parity

noun
par·​i·​ty ˈpar-ət-ē How to pronounce parity (audio)
plural parities
1
: the state or fact of having borne offspring
diagnosis of parity or nulliparity
2
: the number of times a female has given birth counting multiple births as one and usually including stillbirths
gravidity and parity were highly correlated
compare gravidity sense 2

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