Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

motherless

British  
/ ˈmʌðələs /

adjective

  1. not having a mother

"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

adverb

  1. informal (intensifier)

    motherless broke

"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

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.

See Examples For:

Indonesian authorities are working to repatriate five baby orangutans allegedly trafficked to India, where they were found motherless in a forest, Jakarta's forestry ministry told AFP Friday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

Ms. Aviv also uses one woman’s experience as a way of delving into the bruising trade-offs of Filipino women who work as nannies overseas so that their own children, motherless at home, have spending money.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 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

If half of all children are girls, we have 64,500 more motherless daughters now.

From Salon ● May 11, 2024

By the time Reverend Moorehead got around to explaining that these were motherless children she felt one inch high.

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training