parlance

noun

par·​lance ˈpär-lən(t)s 

1

: speech

especially : formal debate or parley

… battle and not parlance should determine his right and title.

—John Speed

2

: manner or mode of speech : idiom

The company's computer system had, in computer parlance, "crashed."

Examples of parlance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In industry parlance, a frontier model is a new, cutting edge AI model trained on massive amounts of data that can reason and autonomously use tools to initiate actions. —Anjana Susarla, The Conversation, 12 June 2026

The new documents, photos, drawings and videos add to the government's rapidly expanding archive of unexplained sightings, known in official parlance as UAPs, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. —Josh Meyer, USA Today, 12 June 2026

The post quickly became a vaunted piece of creepypasta, influencing everything from Severance to Playboi Carti, and it has been adopted as everyday parlance to describe any eerie, liminal space. —Harry Thorfinn-George, Pitchfork, 11 June 2026

Harbour, working with ASL interpreters on set, adapted the lines as written to fit the rhythms and structures of ASL parlance. —Daniel D'addario, Variety, 11 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English parlaunce, borrowed from Anglo-French parlance, parlaunce "speech, gossip, debate," from parler "to speak, talk" + -aunce, -ance -ance — more at parley entry 2

Note: Parlance is much more amply attested in Anglo-French than in continental Old and Middle French, especially after ca. 1300. The Dictionnaire du moyen français has only marginal evidence for the word after 1350.

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing parlance

• in common parlance

Kids Definition

parlance

noun

par·​lance ˈpär-lən(t)s 

: manner of speech