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• divorce
  divorce

  noun

  the act of legally ending a marriage.
• divorcé
  divorcé

  noun

  a divorced man.

divorce

¹ American  

[dih-vawrs] / dɪˈvɔrs /

noun

• divorces
  plural

1. the act of legally ending a marriage.

   After the divorce, they shared custody of the children.

2. any formal separation of spouses according to established custom.

3. the act of legally ending a formal contract before its term is up, especially in professional sports.

   If there’s a personality clash between the player and the manager, divorce may be the only way out.

   It’s a guide to corporate divorce, laying out who pays what to whom at the early termination of a contract.

4. a total separation between two things; disunion.

   Activists denounced the divorce between thought and action when it came to protecting human rights.

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verb (used with object)

divorced, divorcing

1. to legally end the marriage contract between oneself and (one's spouse).

   She divorced her husband.

2. to permanently separate (a couple) through a judicial declaration that ends their marriage contract.

   The judge divorced the couple.

3. to separate or cut off.

   His view of the situation has become totally divorced from reality.

   Synonyms:

   disjoin, detach, sever, disconnect, divide, dissociate, rupture, disjunction, dissolution, breakup, annulment

verb (used without object)

divorced, divorcing

1. to legally end one’s marriage.

   After 16 years together, they divorced.

   I never thought about money till I divorced.

divorcé ² American  

[dih-vawr-say, -vohr-, -vawr-say, -vohr-] / dɪ vɔrˈseɪ, -voʊr-, -ˈvɔr seɪ, -ˈvoʊr- /

noun

1. a divorced man.

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divorce ¹ British  

/ dɪˈvɔːs /

noun

1. the dissolution of a marriage by judgment of a court or by accepted custom

2. a judicial decree declaring a marriage to be dissolved

3. a separation, esp one that is total or complete

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verb

1. to separate or be separated by divorce; give or obtain a divorce (to a couple or from one's spouse)

2. (tr) to remove or separate, esp completely

divorcé ² British  

/ dɪˈvɔːseɪ /

noun

1. a man who has been divorced

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Gender

See fiancée.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• divorcer
  noun
• divorceable
  adjective
• divorcive
  adjective
• nondivorced
  adjective
• undivorceable
  adjective
• undivorced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• divorces
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of divorce¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin dīvortium “separation,” from dīvort(ere) variant of dīvertere “to turn away” ( see divert) + -ium -ium

Origin of divorcé²

First recorded in 1805–15; from French, noun use of masculine past participle of divorcer, from Medieval Latin dīvortiāre “to divorce,” derivative of Latin dīvortium “separation”; see divorce

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Explanation

A divorce is a formal ending of a marriage. It’s more permanent than a separation and involves a legal process. If you get a divorce, that means the marriage is officially over. Divorce has both a noun and a verb form. The noun describes the thing you get — "you are getting a divorce." And the verb describes the thing you do — "you are divorcing your spouse." Divorce can also be used more broadly to describe any major separation. You might know of a politician who divorces himself from a controversial issue — that means he doesn’t want to be associated with it at all.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

divorce divorcé divorces divorced divorcing

Instead of treating her divorce as a failure, she gathered her close friends to mark the end of her former life and the beginning of her next chapter.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Single mother and content creator Cho Seung-yeon, 37, marked the end of her marriage by throwing a divorce ceremony.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

At the time, she was raising seven children -- she later had more -- while going through a divorce.

From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026

Their father and I are divorced, and the divorce was far from amicable.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

It was rare for Jenna to talk about her parents’ divorce, and when she did, I never knew what to say.

From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence

Yet the song was actually Mellencamp’s response to the emptiness he felt as a famous divorcé on the road playing the biggest concerts of his life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

And there’s the leering, preening Rupert Mannion from “Ted Lasso” — multimillionaire soccer team owner, inveterate philanderer and incurably vindictive divorcé.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

The 66-year-old divorcé had just started seeing someone.

From Washington Post ● May 1, 2023

This German comedy about a divorcé who goes to extreme lengths to spend time with his daughter earned glowing reviews, despite running for a posterior-numbing two hours and 42 minutes.

From BBC ● May 22, 2016

He was neither bachelor, husband, nor widower; he was not even a divorcé.

From We Can't Have Everything by Rupert Hughes

Mr. Spencer’s four marriages and three divorces barely merit a mention, yet his emotions are center stage as he interweaves his memories around Diana’s death with other scattered recollections.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

There are also obvious risks if he dies prematurely, becomes ill or divorces.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

In high-net worth divorces, parties typically divide assets in the most tax-efficient way possible.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

The industry often divorces us from what got us into the business in the first place: making believe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

One of the few healthy businesses in town was the sad trade in divorces, handled quickly and easily in cold offices that had once been noisy saloons.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

She told the BBC that she wants to fight the stigma surrounding divorced women and reclaim her identity beyond marriage.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Her father and mother had divorced, but Juan Fernandez’s legend had been fixed — a brawling union leader and New Mexico state legislator.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

Their father and I are divorced, and the divorce was far from amicable.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

She is divorced and has three children who live outside Venezuela due to threats to their safety.

From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026

“Not in person, anyway. Our parents divorced when I was four and she was eight, and then when she turned fourteen, she moved to New Hampshire to live with my mom.”

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

Siobhan was in the process of divorcing Belcher when she died, but was legally still married to him.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

Mutual-fund company T. Rowe Price lists special equity awards among pay practices that it considers outdated or at risk of divorcing executives’ interests from those of shareholders in its proxy voting guidelines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Remini and her former husband, Angelo Pagán, announced back in 2024 that they were divorcing after nearly 30 years together.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Bill Eddy, a longtime conflict resolution specialist, also describes relationship dynamics between siblings that can be similar to a divorcing couple trying to make it work for the kids.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

They were “having problems,” which Genie knew was just parent-talk for maybe/possibly/probably divorcing.

From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds

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Related Words

• annulment
• breakup
• dissolution
• separation
• split

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