parietal

1 of 2

adjective

pa·​ri·​e·​tal pə-ˈrī-ə-tᵊl 

1

a

: of or relating to the walls of a part or cavity

b

: of, relating to, or located near or within the parietal bone or parietal lobe of the head

2

: attached to the main wall rather than the axis or a cross wall of a plant ovary

—used of an ovule or a placenta

3

dated : of or relating to college living or its regulation

especially : of or relating to parietals (see parietal entry 2 sense 2)

All of this takes place in a residential environment no longer constrained by the parietal hours that the older set of today's parents will recall. One of the signature changes in the student revolt of the late sixties/early seventies was the end not only of curfew hours for residence halls but also of housing separated by sex.

—Barrett Seaman

parietal

2 of 2

noun

1

: a parietal part (such as a bone, scale, or plate)

2

parietals plural, dated : the regulations governing the visiting privileges of members of the opposite sex in campus dormitories

Did you know?

Fifteenth-century scientists first used "parietal" (from Latin paries, meaning "wall of a cavity or hollow organ") to describe a pair of bones of the roof of the skull between the frontal and posterior bone. Later, "parietal" was also applied to structures connected to or found in the same general area as these bones; the parietal lobe, for example, is the middle division of each hemisphere of the brain. In the 19th century, botanists adopted "parietal" as a word for ovules and placentas attached to the walls of plant ovaries. It was also in the 19th century that "parietal" began to be heard on college campuses, outside of the classroom; in 1837, Harvard College established the Parietal Committee to be in charge of "all offences against good order and decorum within the walls."

Examples of parietal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

During the book reading, the right temporal parietal junction was activated, but this did not happen during the screen time condition. —Discover Magazine, 26 Apr. 2025

That’s an awful lot of neural real estate for a chip implanted in the parietal to cover. —Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 20 Mar. 2025

Noun

When the subjects lying in the scanner decided to bluff against a human component—but not against the computer—an area called the temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) suddenly blazed with activity. —Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 12 July 2012

Not all of the study's archeologists would agree that the findings fully qualify as parietal, which is often used to describe paintings on cave walls and meaning something cannot move from place to place. —Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY, 21 Sep. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, from Medieval Latin parietalis, from pariet-, paries wall of a cavity or hollow organ, from Latin, wall

First Known Use

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing parietal

• parietal bone
• parietal cell
• parietal lobe

Rhymes for parietal

• societal

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Kids Definition

parietal

adjective

pa·​ri·​etal

pə-ˈrī-ət-ᵊl

: of, relating to, or forming the upper back wall of the head

Medical Definition

parietal

1 of 2 adjective

pa·​ri·​etal pə-ˈrī-ət-ᵊl 

1

: of or relating to the walls of a part or cavity compare visceral

2

: of, relating to, or located in the upper posterior part of the head

specifically : relating to the parietal bones

parietal

2 of 2 noun

: a parietal part (as a bone)