party
/ˈpɑɹti/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.49 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person or group of people constituting one side in a legal proceeding, such as in a legal action or a contract.
noun
A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
Archaic
noun
A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
Archaic
noun
A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "The contract requires that the party of the first part pay the fee."
- "if the Jury had found that the party slain had been of English race and nation, it had been adjudged felony"
- "He is a queer party."
- "`These young parties have a way of looking at one, sir,' he would say apologetically, `which I don't call respectable.'"
- "I can't possibly be (a) party to that kind of reckless behaviour."
- "A mile back in the forest the tribe had heard the fierce challenge of the gorilla, and, as was his custom when any danger threatened, Kerchak called his people together, partly for mutual protection against a common enemy, since this gorilla might be but one of a party of several, and also to see that all members of the tribe were accounted for."
Etymology
From Middle English party, partye, partie, from Anglo-Norman partie, from Old French partie (“side, part; portion, share; separation, division”, literally “that which is divided”), noun use of feminine of past participle of Old French partir (“to divide, separate”), from Latin partire (“to share, part, distribute, divide”), from pars (“a part, piece, a share”); see also part. First attested in c. 1300. Doublet of partita. The sense of communist party of a communist state derives Russian партия (partija), short for Коммунистическая партия (Kommunističeskaja partija). By surface analysis, part + -y (“noun suffix”).
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: First attested in c. 1300
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɑɹti/
- British English: /ˈpɑːti/
Usage
Inflected Forms
parties (plural)
parties (present, singular)
partying (participle, present)
partied (participle, past)
partied (past)
more party (comparative)
most party (superlative)