orphanage

[ awr-fuh-nij ]

/ ˈɔr fə nɪdʒ /

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See synonyms for orphanage on Thesaurus.com

noun

an institution for the housing and care of orphans.

the state of being an orphan; orphanhood.

Archaic. orphans collectively.

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Origin of orphanage

First recorded in 1530–40; orphan + -age

Words nearby orphanage

Oroya fever, oro y plata, Orozco, Orpen, orphan, orphanage, orphan disease, orphan drug, orphans' court, orphan virus, orpharion

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use orphanage in a sentence

He spent some of his childhood in an orphanage, playing soccer as a way to dull the intense pain of loss, eventually taking up running at a school near Nairobi, where he was discovered by Loroupe.
The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It|Vivienne Walt|July 8, 2021|Time
Under the deed, control of both the chocolate company and the orphanage passed to individuals who sat on the board of Milton Hershey’s bank.
“I Finally Got to the Mountaintop and I Failed”|by Bob Fernandez, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Charlotte Keith, Spotlight PA|June 10, 2021|ProPublica
Movies may portray the typical adoption as a childless couple saving an unwanted baby from a crowded orphanage.
The Baby Brokers: Inside America’s Murky Private-Adoption Industry|Tik Root|June 3, 2021|Time
When he was nine months old, a Dutch couple adopted him from an orphanage, making Kaper one of about 1,100 children adopted from abroad to the Netherlands that year.
Despite mixed results, south Asian adoptees turn to DNA tests|Bhavya Dore|October 20, 2020|Quartz

They are adopted children who spent part of their early life at an orphanage.
Puberty may reboot the brain and behaviors|Esther Landhuis|August 27, 2020|Science News For Students
By day, she cares for her children in a bombed-out milk factory that hosts her orphanage, Okutiuka.
Death Metal Angola: Heavy Metal in War-Torn Africa|Nina Strochlic|November 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The last time Xido was at the orphanage in 2012, money was running out and there was only bread to eat for a few days.
Death Metal Angola: Heavy Metal in War-Torn Africa|Nina Strochlic|November 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In 2012, Nicholas and Chris Grava worked at an orphanage in an impoverished area in Cape Town, South Africa.
Dancing Grandpas, Morgan Freeman Impressions, and More Viral Videos|Jack Holmes|July 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Three big sunflowers were lying on the still fresh imprint of a human body in the soil in the orphanage yard.
In the Killing Fields of Ukraine with Children Who Saw the MH17 Horror|Anna Nemtsova|July 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Is she back in the orphanage where it smells like ammonia and cooked cabbage?
When An Adopted Child Won’t Attach|Tina Traster|May 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One-half of all income from my estate was to be paid to the church, the other half for orphanage entertainment.
David Lannarck, Midget|George S. Harney
She sold the Bartholomew house, entered you boys in the orphanage in January 1942.
Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
Your recollection is that your brother Lee was taken from the orphanage home before you and Robert were?
Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
The next time she came to the hospital, Kate had much to ask her about the Orphanage.
Daybreak|Florence A. Sitwell
That home of affluence was not mine,—it was only the asylum of my first days of orphanage.
Ernest Linwood|Caroline Lee Hentz

British Dictionary definitions for orphanage

orphanage

/ (ˈɔːfənɪdʒ) /

noun

an institution for orphans and abandoned children

the state of being an orphan

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

orphanage

Origin of orphanage

Words nearby orphanage

Words related to orphanage

How to use orphanage in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for orphanage