noun
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an institution for orphans and abandoned children
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the state of being an orphan
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Rather than the Virgin Mary, the money "should be invested in a hospital or orphanage," one married couple from Sierpce, some 30 kilometres from the statue, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
He’s joined a volunteer group to provide donations for an orphanage in the Mexican capital.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Kenneth, who was put in an orphanage, has remained an orphan ever since.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Eleven-year-old Margot “Meg” Lefleur, one of the two narrators of Kathryn Stockett’s historical novel “The Calamity Club,” has been a resident of an orphanage in Oxford, Miss., since 1931—two miserable years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
And on the day that a red truck arrived at the orphanage gate, I got my chance.
From "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina" by Michaela DePrince
Not much later, I would consider the role of language in disguising accountability during an investigation into mistreatment of children in Russian orphanages.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
Meena and Minal were adopted from different orphanages by two different Dutch couples.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen, born in the early 1980s, were adopted from two different orphanages in the western Indian city of Mumbai within months of their birth.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Catholicism had long done exceptional charitable work in the U.S., running hospitals, orphanages, shelters, soup kitchens and more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
“In the orphanages? The hospitals? They're such sad places. But maybe I don't need to begin there—the Hartliebs have probably done that already.”
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
