noun
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an institution for orphans and abandoned children
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the state of being an orphan
Etymology
Origin of orphanage
Explanation
An orphanage is a place where children without parents are cared for and housed. If a child has no parents — because the parents died or lost custody — the child is considered an orphan. Orphans are parentless. An orphanage is an institution that takes care of orphans. An orphanage will care for tiny babies and also older children without parents. Orphanages care for children until they can be placed in homes and adopted.
Vocabulary lists containing orphanage
The Shakespeare Stealer
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One for the Murphys
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Tasting the Sky
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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.
Back in George Allan's organ orphanage, there is hope something might be done.
From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026
His mission: take back the mine and repay the Mexican orphanage that once saved him.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 18, 2026
Since her deportation in August, Soumah said she has been allowed two short video calls to see Sabina, who is being kept in a Minsk orphanage.
From Barron's • Jan. 15, 2026
Falling debris from the destroyed Atacms on Tuesday damaged the roofs of a clinic and an orphanage and struck a private house in Voronezh, Russia said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 19, 2025
Before I could answer him, the director turned me over to a woman he called Auntie Fatmata, a village woman who worked and lived at the orphanage.
From "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina" by Michaela DePrince
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.
