What does a parasitic relationship mean?

Answer 1

A parasitic relationship is an unbalanced relationship between two or more organisms.

Unlike a symbiotic relationship, where two or more organisms help each other survive, a parasitic organism only benefits on side of the relationship, and sometimes even harms the host, or affected organism.

An example of a symbiotic relationship would be insects that feed on pollen from flowers and, in doing so, cross-pollinate other flowers, helping them to reproduce.

An example of a parasitic relationship would be a tapeworm that resides in the intestines of a human or an animal.

The tapeworm offers no benefit at all to the host, but derives nourishment without giving anything back.

Answer 2

Parasitism is when one entity (the host) provides everything, and the other (the parasite) takes without contributing anything, usually to the detriment of the host.

Actual parasites are the best example. They live inside the host body, feed off of the body, usually making the host sick.

Human relationships can take take on this form also. If one person provides the shelter, food, etc., and the other partakes in these things without contributing in the way of income or housework it could be considered a parasitic relationship.