A parked domain address is one that is taken, but it is not associated with some other service - web or e mail hosting. In other words, such a domain address will not load any actual content if you type it inside a web browser, but no one else can take it as you have already registered it and you are its owner. The best thing about acquiring a domain and parking it afterwards is the fact that you will be able to keep it and not worry that somebody else may register it meanwhile if, for example, the website for it is not ready yet. You could set a temporary Under Construction page for a parked domain while you are working on the website, or direct it to another web address - temporarily or permanently. The latter option can be employed when you have already registered domain.com, for example, and you acquire domain.net and domain.org, so as to protect a brand name or a trademark. In cases like this, the .net and .org domain addresses can be parked and forwarded to the .com since you don't need separate websites for them.