motherless

/ (ˈmʌðələs) /

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adjective

not having a mother

adverb

Australian informal (intensifier)motherless broke

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Words nearby motherless

Mothering Sunday, mother-in-law, mother-in-law's tongue, motherland, mother language, motherless, mother liquor, mother lode, motherly, mother-naked, Mother Nature

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use motherless in a sentence

When Motherless Brooklyn won the National Book Critics Circle Award, I felt I could exhale, after working frenetically.
How I Write: Jonathan Lethem|Noah Charney|September 25, 2013|DAILY BEAST
What we learn throughout the course of the film is that being the child of a felon doesn't have to mean growing up motherless.
'Mothers of Bedford': New Documentary on Mothers in Prison|Nina Strochlic|November 13, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Among the family at her side was her husband John, the father of her now-motherless children, who will need him to go on.
Elizabeth Edwards' Final Days|Margaret Carlson|December 7, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Motherless babies are far less likely than others to survive their first two years.
Christy Turlington's Labor of Love|Michelle Goldberg|June 9, 2010|DAILY BEAST

Behind these statistics are the stories of promising lives cut short and of the motherless children left behind.
The Fight for Women's Lives|The Daily Beast|September 25, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Motherless children are always taken care of, she answered trying to speak lightly.
Tessa Wadsworth's Discipline|Jennie M. Drinkwater
How shall we, how can we virtuously bring up our motherless little sister?
The Daisy Chain|Charlotte Yonge
Then Georgie took the blanched hand of the motherless girl, and entreated her.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume II (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Her daughter, the object of her most idolatrous love, is left fatherless and motherless in this cold world.
Madame Roland, Makers of History|John S. C. Abbott
He has done generous by these yer poor little lambs that he loved and sheltered, and that's left fatherless and motherless.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)