orphan
Americannoun
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orphans
plural
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a child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent.
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a young animal that has been deserted by or has lost its mother.
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a person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc..
The committee is an orphan of the previous administration.
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Printing.
-
(especially in word processing) the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.
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adjective
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bereft of parents.
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of or for orphans.
an orphan home.
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not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned.
an orphan research project.
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lacking a commercial sponsor, an employer, etc..
orphan workers.
verb (used with object)
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orphans,
present (3rd person singular)
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orphaned,
past participle, past
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orphaning
present participle
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to deprive of parents or a parent through death.
He was orphaned at the age of four.
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Informal. to deprive of commercial sponsorship, an employer, etc..
The recession has orphaned many experienced workers.
noun
-
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a child, one or (more commonly) both of whose parents are dead
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( as modifier )
an orphan child
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printing the first line of a paragraph separated from the rest of the paragraph by occurring at the foot of a page
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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orphansimple
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orphanssimple
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have orphanedperfect
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has orphanedperfect
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am orphaningprogressive
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are orphaningprogressive
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is orphaningprogressive
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have been orphaningperfect progressive
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has been orphaningperfect progressive
Past
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orphanedsimple
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had orphanedperfect
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was orphaningprogressive
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were orphaningprogressive
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had been orphaningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of orphan
1425–75; late Middle English (noun) < Late Latin orphanus destitute, without parents < Greek orphanós bereaved; akin to Latin orbus bereaved
Explanation
An orphan is someone who has lost both parents. Usually, we think of sad little children when we think of orphans, but anyone whose parents have both died is an orphan. A home for orphans is no substitute for a house with loving parents, even if they're adopted. Bambi, Annie, and Oliver Twist are probably the most famous orphans. Each lost their parents in different ways, but all of them had their lives similarly changed—they felt adrift without a parent to guide them. Orphans often spend lots of time looking for friends or surrogates to fill the gap left by their deceased parents.
Vocabulary lists containing orphan
Spider-Man's Word Web
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"The War Works Hard" by Dunya Mikhail
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
Eli Lilly’s experimental cancer treatment, olomorasib, receives orphan drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Astronomers describe it as an apparent "orphan" because it sits unusually far from the galactic core, where supermassive black holes are normally found.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
Hottle played a young orphan named Jia in the monster film series, and reprised the role in the 2024 sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
PantheRx Rare, based in Pittsburgh, is a pharmacy that focuses on rare and orphan diseases, helping to provide medications and personalized care.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
This is not the first time Ishtar has gathered a war orphan from the ruins, and it won't be the last.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Harry then spent a sabbatical year in Australia and Africa, caring for orphans in Lesotho, where he founded a charity in Diana's memory.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Being raised by another sea otter rather than a human gives Sunny — like other orphans — the best chance of learning essential skills, he added.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
It prioritises vulnerable children, including amputees and orphans, and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
Christian magazine Charisma further explained that throughout the Bible, “God commands His people to ‘defend the fatherless’ and to care for orphans with compassion, justice and sacrificial love.”
From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2025
The three orphans spoke of pleasant memories of their parents and about Justice Strauss, who they agreed was a wonderful neighbor and in whose library they planned to spend a great deal of time.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
The BBC understands Ahmadzai, who left Afghanistan after being orphaned aged 15, lives in Greece with his American wife and their child.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The Ministry of Religious Affairs has revoked the school's license permanently, and said that students' educations would continue through online learning options or transfers to other institutions – especially for orphaned students.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
When a pup strands on the Central California coast, federal and state wildlife officials respond to assess whether it is truly orphaned, said Brett Long, the Long Beach aquarium’s vice president of animal care.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
That certainly has been the case with orphaned oil wells, which also were built with promises of safety.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2026
I passed her a book and pointed to a paragraph about what they did with orphaned children.
From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine
Within these confines, COVID-19 advanced without mercy: orphaning children, killing breadwinners and shattering families.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2022
“The biggest fear around spring bear season is the orphaning of cubs, that’s a very emotional argument. Even as a hunter, my worse fear would be to take a sow. Especially in a spring season.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 14, 2021
In Texas, Lydia Rodriguez, 42, died this month of covid-19, two weeks after her husband Lawrence’s death from the same disease, orphaning their four children.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2021
Her husband succumbed to the virus as well, orphaning their newborn.
From Fox News ● Aug. 10, 2020
It was therefore a sore disappointment when they learned that death had robbed them of the dear old people, orphaning them a second time.
From Mildred's New Daughter by Martha Finley
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.
