Home US English parry

Definition of parry in English:

parry

Pronunciation /ˈperē/ /ˈpɛri/

See synonyms for parry

Translate parry into Spanish

transitive verbparries, parrying, parried

[with object]

  • 1Ward off (a weapon or attack) with a countermove.

    ‘he parried the blow by holding his sword vertically’
    • ‘Show your opponent an opening then pull back to parry his counter attack.’
    • ‘When the arms and ammunitions ran out, the volunteers used blank weapons to parry the attacks.’
    • ‘The duke blocked the attack and parried the following barrage of cuts the prince delivered.’
    • ‘Maintaining distance and at the last possible moment, the attack is parried.’
    • ‘His attack was parried, and then counterattacked with a diagonal swipe to the head.’
    • ‘If your timing is on the money, Nina will actually parry his attack, leaving him wide open for a countermove.’
    • ‘He parried the attacks easily, slashing back with his weapon but to no avail.’
    • ‘Almost at once it was on top of her, trying frantically to claw at her, but she already had her sword out and parried its attacks.’
    • ‘You can parry most incoming attacks with a well-timed sword strike, but in my mind, that's no substitute for being able to go completely defensive.’
    • ‘Suddenly Constantine advanced and Alexander was driven back, parrying Constantine's attacks with his great sword.’
    • ‘I shouted, holding my sword as if I were ready to parry any attack.’
    • ‘Yelping in pain he tried to parry her attacks, but the onslaught came so fast he stumbled, hitting the ground hard.’
    • ‘A sword flashed out of nowhere and parried Chris's attack, then pinned him to the ground.’
    • ‘He stopped parrying my attacks, took two good shots on the chin, parried the kick I aimed at his gut and batted my leg aside.’
    • ‘Soldiers came in from behind, and she spun around, parrying their attacks, and blasting them with her fire.’
    • ‘I grabbed a fallen tree branch and used it to parry his attacks.’
    • ‘His blade came flying at her chest, and though she managed to parry the attack, the force behind it struck true.’
    • ‘With only one arm operational, Jay was doing all he could to parry Anthony's attacks.’
    • ‘With a blood curdling cry, the elf lunged for me but I parried her attack and stepped out of the way, just like the many times in practice.’
    • ‘His left sword clashed against the goblins mace, and to the elf's surprise, he parried the attack.’
    ward off, fend off, stave off, turn aside
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1Answer (a question or accusation) evasively.
      ‘he parried questions from reporters outside the building’
      • ‘As my editorial staff can vouch, there was hardly a day during the race for governor of California when I was not required to parry questions from the media, American and otherwise.’
      • ‘But he parries questions with these guys, and says, ‘Are you sure you need all those - or you don't.’’
      • ‘Glass, who parried questions about the veracity of those articles, should correct the record.’
      • ‘She parried questions of presspersons with élan, and seemed perfectly at home in the Ministry of Tourism.’
      • ‘Even now, during an interview in the family's Manhattan loft, Wong parries questions about his sexuality, his religion, even his age.’
      • ‘But she parried our questions with a wit that reminds us why we found her mother so delightful.’
      • ‘But he parried questions about the new unit, which had already got off to a rocky start, we discovered.’
      • ‘A relaxed Mr Kennedy did not sparkle, but remained jocular as he parried friendly questions.’
      • ‘Delight is an understatement, but he keeps it all under perfect control, parrying a host of questions with the aplomb which has won him many admirers, including Rupert Murdoch.’
      • ‘In a closed-door meeting, the folksy cleric parries lawmakers' queries by smearing the ministers with corruption charges.’
      • ‘He was circumspect and parried all my questions but did not discount my fears.’
      • ‘But the smart girl behind the model was ready to parry all questions.’
      • ‘He consistently parried any questions about his newfound environmentalism.’
      evade, sidestep, avoid, dodge, answer evasively, field, fend off, deflect, circumvent, steer clear of, fight shy of
      View synonyms

nounparries

  • An act of parrying something.

    ‘her question met with a polite parry’
    • ‘Parry after parry and blow after blow were the only things Reana thought about as she struggled in the midst of the fight.’
    • ‘A quick parry of the blow, and Tanaka returned the favor with a right hook.’
    • ‘Several blows and parries were executed as images of imaginary foes continued to appear all around him.’
    • ‘They paused for a moment and began to trade a flurry of blows, parries and dodges in a blur of movement.’
    • ‘Cecil was fighting for his life now, his body screamed with each parry, each step and each blow.’
    • ‘Making turns, parries and blows against an imaginary opponent Alaina got lost in a constant rhythm.’
    • ‘He watched his father's neat, even blows, chops, cuts, and parries.’
    • ‘This particular rant had been initiated by Nicholas' ill-advised attempt to employ a parry to block the simplistic head-thrust from the robot.’
    • ‘Another parry, a block, a feint and Luther rolled out of harm's way.’

Origin

Late 17th century probably representing French parez! ‘ward off!’, imperative of parer, from Italian parare ‘ward off’.