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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

State Sen. Angela Paxton said in a 2025 divorce filing that Paxton, whom she accused of adultery, moved out of their Collin County home a year earlier.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

She had to go back to working in sales after the divorce to boost her income and the new ring helps remind her how she managed to rebuild from the ground up.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

Nobody has filed divorce papers, and important players on both sides are working hard to keep a loveless marriage going.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

A divorce and a “surrendering of everything you thought your life would be” prompted Liddy Romero, 45, to draw on her Mexican-American roots and create Romero Cookies from her parents’ recipe, she said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026

He argued that divorce should not be discussed at a women’s rights conventions because it involved both men and women.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

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

Stepan, an outgoing 41-year-old divorcé with a pet hedgehog, posted photos of oxygen cylinders and explained that he had three in his apartment.

From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2022

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 gave her rapidly a sketch of the life and antecedents of Lord Donald of Dunoon—gambler, wastrel, divorcé, et cetera, speaking quite frankly, almost as he would have spoken to a man.

From Helena by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

"Working has kept me young, vigorous, energetic, knowledgeable, fun," said Cohen, who has represented celebrities in their divorces, including former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 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

“By then, both of us had been through divorces and she had two small kids—Oliver and Kate—and I had one, Boston. We hit it off and agreed, ‘Let’s have fun until we don’t.’”

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026

But those were a couple of divorces and a serious illness ago, and the son looking over his shoulder at the mounted snapshots now had little in common with the boy in the pictures.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

People ask me why I keep stuff and this is exactly why: You might get divorced and use it as a costume.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

His attitude to money was shaped by childhood - his parents divorced and his mother raised four children which meant he grew up thinking carefully about spending.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

“People divorced from community, occupation, and association,” he wrote, “are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.”

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

She refuses to treat the citizenship clause as an abstract debate about sovereignty or jurisdiction divorced from the people whose humanity demanded its adoption.

From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026

It was about a girl whose parents were getting divorced.

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

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

His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, is divorcing him on “biblical grounds,” accusing him of infidelity.

From Salon ● Jun. 17, 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

Under the new law, a family court can decide whether to grant sole or joint custody to divorcing couples.

From BBC ● Apr. 1, 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

Related Words

• annulment
• breakup
• dissolution
• separation
• split