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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

Enforcement of that policy ended in 2015, one year before Zhang immigrated to the U.S. with the help of her ex-husband, according to a divorce filing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Courts often consider the cash provided for down payments as a gift to the couple in divorce proceedings, splitting the home equity equally between both spouses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

She helped me through the divorce, sat with me when my father was dying and stayed with me for a week after my surgery a few years ago.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

It can't be a coincidence that a song she wrote after signing her divorce papers became her breakthrough hit.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 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

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 would phone us at home sometimes, like on a Saturday,” Mr. Rush recalled, back when the presidential candidate was a city divorcé.

From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2016

First the twain fall desperately in love, and Edith, the Catholic, discovers Ben to be an innocent divorcé.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, September 26, 1917 by Various

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

Birthdays and divorces are celebrated with equal aplomb.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

“The battle over embryos is becoming a big problem in divorces now.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

It's a sizeable sum to part with when divorces can be expensive.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

So they were overwhelmingly solo practitioners, handling wills and divorces and contracts and minor disputes, and in the Depression the work of the solo practitioner all but disappeared.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

She’s been divorced for six years and has two grown kids.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

They divorced about a decade later, and Ortiz married a U.S. citizen and gained legal status.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

The state of Baja California said in a statement that Ávila is legally divorced from Torres.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Tammy Faye, who divorced him in 1992, was never charged.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

She was divorced, and she wrote romance novels.

From "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures" by Kate DiCamillo

The couple were married at the time of the alleged offences before separating in 2018 and divorcing in 2021.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

“Yes, Tom and I are divorcing, and it is extremely sad,” she said, beginning to cry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

May 2021: Bill and Melinda French Gates announce they are divorcing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

According to the law offices of Christopher Le, divorcing for the sole purpose of obtaining benefits may be viewed as an attempt to manipulate the system.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

"When your mother said that she was divorcing your father and wanted to move to New York where she grew up, my grandmother set things up with Dr. Gershom."

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

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Related Words

• annulment
• breakup
• dissolution
• separation
• split

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