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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-sey, -vohr-, -vawr-sey, -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

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

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

In a suburb near Chicago, one home buyer in her 50s was on the hunt for a place to live as she finalized a divorce.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

In the late 2010s, he went through a hard divorce, lost the little he had managed to save, and found himself living in his car.

From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026

And that's not all - Alex is also back in the dating game following a divorce.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

A year after my divorce, I wanted to dip my toe back into dating.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Eventually, my dad returned with his wallet, and the divorce went off without any more hitches.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

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

A poet turned filmmaker, a husband turned divorcé, a son turned orphan, our hero is caught between who he once was and who he has become.

From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2024

The acclaimed “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” adapted by Taffy Brodesser-Akner from her bestselling 2019 novel, is ostensibly about this Manhattan divorcé and struggling single father, played by Jesse Eisenberg.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2023

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

From Washington Post ● May 1, 2023

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

From We Can't Have Everything by Rupert Hughes

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

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

But what if she divorces her second husband?

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026

The movie kicks off as a casual portrait of the vacant nouveau riche lifestyles of the mini-oligarchs: fancy dinners, divorces, bathroom gossip.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026

Many painted a picture of "destroyed" lives: divorces, losing custody of their children, prison, psychiatric hospitals, and astronomical medical bills in the hope of regaining "a normal, meaningful life."

From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026

I would like to let the record show that Ali and Shohreh probably had the most amicable divorce in the history of divorces.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Cole was married twice – first to playwright and theatrical fight director Henry Marshall, whom she divorced in 1988.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

"We measured outcomes like whether someone became employed or unemployed, whether they got married or divorced, and standard indicators of mental health," he said.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

Kramer’s sister, Kaitlin, wrote on social media that Wehr had told the 22-year-old that he was “almost fully divorced and extremely separated.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

He could, in fact, claim on his late spouse’s Social Security even if they were divorced, as long as they had been married for 10 years and he had not married again before age 60.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Isabella doesn’t talk a lot about her parents, but I’m pretty sure her mom is the one who wanted to get divorced.

From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée

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

Keep in mind that divorcing solely for the purpose of qualifying for higher benefits may raise legal concerns if the divorce is not genuine.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

The story I co-wrote with Dalvin was about the unexpected possessions that divorcing couples clash over.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

Her joy of divorcing my father was twofold as she not only left a somewhat feckless husband, but also de-Mycock-ed herself.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026

I couldn’t help but feel as though she was divorcing us, trading in her old allegiances for a new one.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

Related Words

• annulment
• breakup
• dissolution
• separation
• split