Definition of parry in English:

parry

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.
‘the swords clashed in a parry’
‘her question met with a polite parry’
- ‘Deb has a breakdown when her perfect parry turns out not to be.’
- ‘The humour is consistent right from the start and nearly always borders on ridiculous, which is a nice parry to the action.’
- ‘No. Walker's prologue and epilogue (a revealing look at various parries arguing over where Liszt should be buried) clearly frame the diary's events.’
- ‘‘I'm so glad I have someone smart sitting next to me, or life would be a bore,’ Jake thought as he prepared a verbal parry.’