Word.ws English Dictionary

parley

/ˈpɑːli/US/ˈpɑɹli/

parley noun: a conference, especially one between enemies.

Noun

parley (countable and uncountable, plural parleys)

  1. A conference, especially one between enemies.
    • We yield on parley, but are stormed in vain.1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number)
    • Without further parley Garland rode off up the hog's-back and the sheriff rode off down it [...]1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter IV, in The Understanding Heart

Verb

parley (third-person singular simple present parleys, present participle parleying, simple past and past participle parleyed)

  1. (intransitive) To have a discussion, especially one between enemies.
    • [...] at day break we found the villaine, who, loath to parlee in fire and ſhot, fled amaine and left us [...]1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique
    • "That is droll. Listen yet one time. You are very spiritual. Can you make a honorable lady of Her?" / "Don't be so malicious," says Mr. Bucket. / "Or a haughty gentleman of Him?" cries Madamoiselle, referring to Sir Leicester with ineffable disdain. "Eh! O then regard him! The poor infant! Ha! ha!...1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Springing a Mine”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 527

Proper noun capitalized: Parley

Parley

  1. An uncommon surname.

parley meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

parley in Tamil

சிக்கல் தீர்வுப் பேச்சு

parley in Bengali

শত্রুপক্ষের সাথে আলোচনা, কথাবার্তা

parley in Malayalam

സല്ലപിക്കുക, കൂടിയാലോചിക്കുക, വാഗ്വാദം നടത്തുക

parley in Kannada

ಸಂಧಾನ ಸಭೆ, ಚರ್ಚಾಗೋಷ್ಠಿ, ಒಪ್ಪಂದದ ಷರತ್ತುಗಳನ್ನು ಚರ್ಚಿಸು, ಸಂಧಿ ಮಾತುಕತೆ ನಡೆಸು

Synonyms of parley

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of parley

Forms of parley

Noun
pluralparleys
Verb
third-person singular presentparleys
present participleparleying
past participleparleyed
pastparleyed
alternative formparlay

Plural of parley: parleys

Origin of parley

From Middle English parlai (“speech, parley”), from Old French parler (“to talk; to speak”), from Late Latin parabolō, from Latin parabola (“comparison”), from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ), from παρά (pará, “beside”) with βολή (bolḗ, “throwing”). Doublet of palaver.

Words formed from parley

Words that rhyme with parley

Questions about parley

What does parley mean?
Parley means a conference, especially one between enemies.
What is parley in Tamil?
Parley in Tamil is சிக்கல் தீர்வுப் பேச்சு. See Parley meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is parley?
Parley can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce parley?
Parley is pronounced /ˈpɑːli/ (UK).
What is the plural of parley?
The plural of parley is parleys.

Words near parley in the dictionary

  1. parlementary
  2. Parler
  3. parles
  4. Parlett
  5. Parletts
  6. parley
  7. parley-voo
  8. parley-vooed
  9. parley-vooing
  10. parley-voos
  11. parley-vous

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: parley (page history and authors); Parley (page history and authors); parley (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parley (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parley (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parley (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-parley.wav.

Cite this entry: “parley.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/parley. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.