parole

UK: /pəˈrəʊl/ US: /pəˈroʊl/ ,(pə rōl′; Linguist. pa rôl′)

Inflections of 'parole' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

paroles

v 3rd person singular

paroling

v pres p

paroled

v past

paroled

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

pa•role /pəˈroʊl/   n., v., -roled, -rol•ing, adj. 
n. [uncountable]

1. Law the release of a person from prison before the end of the sentence imposed, with a promise or condition that no more crimes will be committed:
   The prisoner was granted parole but had to report to the authorities every few weeks.

v. [~ + object]

2. Law to place or release on parole:
   He was paroled but then later caught and convicted for another crime.

adj. [before a noun]

3. Law of or relating to parole or parolees:
   a parole violation.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

pa•role  (pə rōl′), n., v., -roled, -rol•ing, adj. 
n. 

1. Law [Penol.]
   • the conditional release of a person from prison prior to the end of the maximum sentence imposed.
   • such release or its duration.
   • an official document authorizing such a release.
2. Military
   • Military the promise, usually written, of a prisoner of war, that if released he or she either will return to custody at a specified time or will not again take up arms against his or her captors.
   • (formerly) any password given by authorized personnel in passing by a guard.
3. word of honor given or pledged.
4. Law (in U.S. immigration laws) the temporary admission of aliens into the U.S. for emergency reasons or on grounds considered in the public interest, as authorized by and at the discretion of the attorney general.

v.t. 

5. Law to place or release on parole.
6. Law to admit (an alien) into the U.S. under the parole provision:
   An increased number of Hungarian refugees were paroled into the United States.

adj. 

7. Law of or pertaining to parole or parolees:
   a parole record.

• Middle French, short for parole d'honneur word of honor. See parol
• 1610–20

pa•rol′a•ble, adj. 

pa•role  (pa rôl′), n. [French.]

1. Linguistics, Foreign Terms language as manifested in the actual utterances produced by speakers of a language (contrasted with langue).

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

parole / pəˈrəʊl/ noun

1. the freeing of a prisoner before his or her sentence has expired, on the condition that he or she is of good behaviour
2. the duration of such conditional release
3. a promise given by a prisoner, as to be of good behaviour if granted liberty or partial liberty
4. a variant spelling of parol
5. language as manifested in the individual speech acts of particular speakers
   Compare langue
6. on parole ⇒ conditionally released from detention

verb (transitive)

1. to place (a person) on parole

Etymology: 17th Century: from Old French, from the phrase parole d'honneur word of honour; parole from Late Latin parabola speech

parolee / pəˌrəʊˈliː/ noun