empty-nest syndrome

American  

noun

1. a depressed state felt by some parents after their children have left home.

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empty-nest syndrome British  

noun

1. informal a condition, often involving depression, loneliness, etc, experienced by parents living in a home from which the children have grown up and left

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Etymology

Origin of empty-nest syndrome

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Now Mr. Perrotta is 55, and his children have left home, and “Mrs. Fletcher” reflects his fixation on empty-nest syndrome and the awkwardness of late middle age, which can almost seem like a second adolescence.

From New York Times • Aug. 2, 2017

Who knew that college students were old enough to suffer from empty-nest syndrome?

From Washington Post • May 26, 2016

The empty-nest syndrome appears to be a myth, too.

From Scientific American • Mar. 5, 2015

And what are we to make of Olivia’s final speech, in which she manifests empty-nest syndrome as a full-blown existential crisis?

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2015

When I left, they both cried, my mom explaining that it was just empty-nest syndrome, that they were just so proud of me, that they loved me so much.

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green