orphan

American  

[awr-fuhn] / ˈɔr fən /

noun

1. a child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent.

2. a young animal that has been deserted by or has lost its mother.

3. a person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc..

   The committee is an orphan of the previous administration.

4. Printing.

   1. (especially in word processing) the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.

   2. widow.

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adjective

1. bereft of parents.

2. of or for orphans.

   an orphan home.

3. not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned.

   an orphan research project.

4. lacking a commercial sponsor, an employer, etc..

   orphan workers.

verb (used with object)

1. to deprive of parents or a parent through death.

   He was orphaned at the age of four.

2. Informal. to deprive of commercial sponsorship, an employer, etc..

   The recession has orphaned many experienced workers.

orphan British  

/ ˈɔːfən /

noun

1. 1. a child, one or (more commonly) both of whose parents are dead

   2. ( as modifier )

      an orphan child

2. printing the first line of a paragraph separated from the rest of the paragraph by occurring at the foot of a page

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verb

1. (tr) to deprive of one or both parents

Other Word Forms

• half-orphan noun
• orphanhood noun
• unorphaned adjective

Etymology

Origin of orphan

1425–75; late Middle English (noun) < Late Latin orphanus destitute, without parents < Greek orphanós bereaved; akin to Latin orbus bereaved

Example Sentences

Reports on the ground show that more than 39,300 children have lost one or both parents, including about 17,000 who have become orphaned.

From Los Angeles Times

Federal and state officials have put aside funding to deal with some of these so-called “orphaned” wells, but environmental advocates say it’s not enough.

From Los Angeles Times

For generations, this imposing photograph of a clean-shaven Abraham Lincoln—age 51 and at the crest of newfound national fame—inexplicably remained an orphan in the Lincoln visual canon.

From The Wall Street Journal

It didn’t matter that he was an orphan who never quite fit into the puzzles of families he was shoved into.

From Literature

But “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is less concerned about the aristocracy than what life is like for smallfolk like Dunk, an orphan who spent his early childhood scraping by in Flea Bottom.

From Salon