Portion vs Parcel - What's the difference?
portion | parcel | Synonyms |
An allocated amount.
That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.
One's fate; lot.
* Bible, Luke xii. 46
* Keble
The part of an estate given or falling to a child or heir; an inheritance.
* Bible, Luke xv. 12
A wife's fortune; a dowry.
* 1613 , , V. iv. 31:
To divide into amounts, as for allocation to specific purposes.
To endow with a portion or inheritance.
A package wrapped for shipment.
:
*
*:At twilight in the summeron the floor.
*{{quote-book, year=1905, author=
, title=
, chapter=2 An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
A division of land bought and sold as a unit.
:
(lb) A group of birds.
An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:This youthful parcel / Of noble bachelors stand at my disposing.
*1847 , (Herman Melville), (Omoo)
*:A parcel of giddy creatures of her own age.
A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.
A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.
:
*(John Arbuthnot) (1667-1735)
*:two parcels of the white of an egg
*(John Addington Symonds) (1840–1893)
*:The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government.
To wrap something up into the form of a package.
To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.
To divide and distribute by parts or portions; often with out'' or ''into .
* Shakespeare
* Dryden
* Tennyson
To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.
* Sir Walter Scott
* Tennyson
As nouns the difference between portion and parcel
is that portion is an allocated amount while parcel is a package wrapped for shipment.As verbs the difference between portion and parcel
is that portion is to divide into amounts, as for allocation to specific purposes while parcel is to wrap something up into the form of a package.As an adverb parcel is
part or half; in part; partially.portion
English
Noun
(en noun)- The lord of that servant will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
- Man's portion is to die and rise again.
- Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
- Commend me to her, and to piece her portion / Tender her this.
Usage notes
Relatively formal, compared to the more informal part or more concrete and casual piece. For example, “part of the money” (both informal) but “portion of the proceeds” (both formal).Synonyms
* part * pieceDerived terms
* portionless * proportionVerb
(en verb)- Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest. — Alexander Pope.
Usage notes
* Particularly used as portion out. * Relatively formal, compared to the more informal divide, divide up, or the casual divvy, divvy up.Synonyms
* divide, divide up * divvy, divvy upDerived terms
* portion off * portion outExternal links
* * ----parcel
English
Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=“H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”}}
Synonyms
* (package wrapped for shipment) package * (division of land bought and sold as a unit) plotDerived terms
* parcel bomb * parcel out * parcel post * parcel together * parcel up * parcellate * parcellation * part and parcel * pass the parcelSee also
* lot * allotmentVerb
- Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
- Their woes are parcelled , mine are general.
- These ghostly kings would parcel out my power.
- the broad woodland parcelled into farms
- That mine own servant should / Parcel the sum of my disgraces by / Addition of his envy.
Adverb
(-)- The worthy dame was parcel -blind.
- One that was parcel -bearded.
