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parity (n.)

1570s, "equality or equivalence of rank or status," from Middle French parité (14c.) or directly from Late Latin paritas "equality," from Latin adjective par (genitive paris) "equal" (see par (n.)). Meaning "state or condition of being on a level" is from 1610s. Meaning "condition in which adversaries have equal resources" is from 1955, originally in reference to the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.

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Definitions of parity from WordNet

parity (n.)
(obstetrics) the number of liveborn children a woman has delivered;
the parity of the mother must be considered
Synonyms: para
parity (n.)
(mathematics) a relation between a pair of integers: if both integers are odd or both are even they have the same parity; if one is odd and the other is even they have different parity;
parity is often used to check the integrity of transmitted data
parity (n.)
(computer science) a bit that is used in an error detection procedure in which a 0 or 1 is added to each group of bits so that it will have either an odd number of 1's or an even number of 1's; e.g., if the parity is odd then any group of bits that arrives with an even number of 1's must contain an error;
Synonyms: parity bit / check bit
parity (n.)
(physics) parity is conserved in a universe in which the laws of physics are the same in a right-handed system of coordinates as in a left-handed system;
Synonyms: conservation of parity / space-reflection symmetry / mirror symmetry
parity (n.)
functional equality;
From wordnet.princeton.edu