single parent

¹

noun

1. a parent or guardian who brings up a child or children alone, without a partner:

   Being a single parent isn’t easy.

single-parent

²

[ sing-guhl-pair-uhnt, ‐-par-uhnt ]

adjective

1. of or noting a family in which a parent brings up a child or children alone, without a partner: a single-parent household.

   a single-parent family;

   a single-parent household.

single parent

noun

1. Also called (NZ)solo parent
   1. a person who has a dependent child or dependent children and who is widowed, divorced, or unmarried
   2. ( as modifier )

      a single-parent family

Word History and Origins

Origin of single parent¹

First recorded in 1850–60

Origin of single parent²

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

With the latest update, “users of unified campaigns are now able to manage multiple sub-accounts underneath a single parent account,” according to the announcement.

From Search Engine Land

In our hypothesis, a single parent star would have made all the elements observed in SMSS J2003-1142.

From Singularity Hub 

The elements we observed in it were likely produced by a single parent star, just after the Big Bang.

From Singularity Hub 

Though he’s a single parent, Logelin realizes he has a community of friends and family to help shape Maddy’s life, and he must learn how to lean on them, especially as she grows older.

From Time

Being a single parent is no joke, but Netflix’s upcoming comedy-drama Fatherhood manages to find amusing moments in the midst of tragedy as it tells one man’s story of raising his daughter alone after his wife dies unexpectedly.

From Essence.com

If I could have every single parent in the United States watch this program, I would.

From The Daily Beast

Those words might not sit well with single parent and divorced Catholics, and groups supporting non-traditional families.

From The Daily Beast

Single-parent, same-sex, and common-law families barely penetrated public consciousness, much less the Hebrew lexicon.

From The Daily Beast

The fact that the new president of the United States was the product of a single-parent home was cited by both sides.

From The Daily Beast

So the chances of me being a married "single" parent are very, very high—and I don't want to be a single parent.

From The Daily Beast

Ultimately “Delbrck went so far,” says Professor Ripley, “as to deny that any single parent language ever existed in fact”.

From Project Gutenberg

Once isolated, such single-parent races are constant from seed and remain true to their type.

From Project Gutenberg

Its care, its nurture, its education is too important even to be risked with a single parent.

From Project Gutenberg

Every Alcyonarian colony is developed by budding from a single parent zooid.

From Project Gutenberg

In a world of choice and free movement, children are more likely to come from families that will consist of a single parent.

From Project Gutenberg