fatherless
Americanadjective
-
not having a living father.
a fatherless boy.
-
not having a known or legally responsible father.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of fatherless
before 1000; Middle English faderles, Old English fæderlēas. See father, -less
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Seventy percent of teen pregnancies are to girls from fatherless homes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
Delila Combs, 18, pleaded: "We can't watch our baby sister grow up fatherless the same way we grew up motherless... Please, please give our family the chance to heal."
From BBC • Oct. 3, 2025
That’s why he’d spent years mentoring a fatherless young man to help him find his way in the world.
From Slate • Apr. 27, 2025
Her Instagram bio read, “A fatherless girl thinks all things are possible, and nothing is safe.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 16, 2024
It was here Mrs. Lapham slept with her four ‘poor fatherless girls,’ as she called them.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
