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orphan

[ awr-fuhn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent.
a young animal that has been deserted by or has lost its mother.
a person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc.:
The committee is an orphan of the previous administration.
Printing.
1. (especially in word processing) the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.
2. widow ( def 3b ).

adjective

bereft of parents.
of or for orphans:
an orphan home.
not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned:
an orphan research project.
lacking a commercial sponsor, an employer, etc.:
orphan workers.

verb (used with object)

to deprive of parents or a parent through death:
He was orphaned at the age of four.
Informal. to deprive of commercial sponsorship, an employer, etc.:
The recession has orphaned many experienced workers.

orphan

/ ˈɔː��ə�� /

noun

1. a child, one or (more commonly) both of whose parents are dead
2. ( as modifier )
  an orphan child
printing the first line of a paragraph separated from the rest of the paragraph by occurring at the foot of a page

verb

tr to deprive of one or both parents

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Other Word Forms

�ǰ�p�󲹲�·��Ǵǻ� noun
�󲹱��-�ǰ�p�󲹲� noun
�ܲ�·�ǰ�p�󲹲Ա�� adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of orphan¹

1425–75; late Middle English (noun) < Late Latin orphanus destitute, without parents < Greek �ǰ��󲹲�ó�� bereaved; akin to Latin orbus bereaved

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Word History and Origins

Origin of orphan¹

C15: from Late Latin orphanus, from Greek orphanos; compare Latin orbus bereaved

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“I think food became my drug probably the day that they put me in the orphan’s home,” she told CBN when she was in her 60s.

From

I think the film intends these youngsters to be a semirealistic gang of X-Men, but it doesn’t give them any dialogue or individuality; they’re treated more like the orphans in “Oliver Twist.”

From

Many have described Monday's death of the man they called Lolo Kiko, or Grandpa Francis, as leaving them feeling like orphans.

From

As tensions rise over immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, a family is struggling to reunite an orphaned Mexican boy with his brother and sister in California.

From

McConville’s orphaned children later pursued the answers to what happened to her.

From

Orpen orphanage

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