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
Explanation
Fatherless means without a father. When Claudius killed Hamlet's father, Hamlet became fatherless and obsessed with vengeance. Use the adjective fatherless to describe your orphaned kitten, who has no parents and is therefore both motherless and fatherless. Usually, a fatherless person has lost his or her father to death, although you could also describe a girl raised only by her mother as a fatherless child. The root of fatherless is the similar Old English word fæderleas.
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.
His own son, Breck, is 14, and will soon be fatherless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
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
The letter refers to the boy being a fatherless apprentice and through his research Prof Steggle says there was only one person in London called John Butts who fits that criteria.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2025
Her Instagram bio read, “A fatherless girl thinks all things are possible, and nothing is safe.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2024
Its purpose was to help members who were destitute and to provide care for widows and fatherless children.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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.
