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• divorce
  divorce

  noun

  the act of legally ending a marriage.
• divorcé
  divorcé

  noun

  a divorced man.

divorce

¹ American  

[dih-vawrs] / dɪˈvɔrs /

noun

• divorces
  plural

1. the act of legally ending a marriage.

   After the divorce, they shared custody of the children.

2. any formal separation of spouses according to established custom.

3. the act of legally ending a formal contract before its term is up, especially in professional sports.

   If there’s a personality clash between the player and the manager, divorce may be the only way out.

   It’s a guide to corporate divorce, laying out who pays what to whom at the early termination of a contract.

4. a total separation between two things; disunion.

   Activists denounced the divorce between thought and action when it came to protecting human rights.

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verb (used with object)

divorced, divorcing

1. to legally end the marriage contract between oneself and (one's spouse).

   She divorced her husband.

2. to permanently separate (a couple) through a judicial declaration that ends their marriage contract.

   The judge divorced the couple.

3. to separate or cut off.

   His view of the situation has become totally divorced from reality.

   Synonyms:

   disjoin, detach, sever, disconnect, divide, dissociate, rupture, disjunction, dissolution, breakup, annulment

verb (used without object)

divorced, divorcing

1. to legally end one’s marriage.

   After 16 years together, they divorced.

   I never thought about money till I divorced.

divorcé ² American  

[dih-vawr-say, -vohr-, -vawr-say, -vohr-] / dɪ vɔrˈseɪ, -voʊr-, -ˈvɔr seɪ, -ˈvoʊr- /

noun

1. a divorced man.

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divorce ¹ British  

/ dɪˈvɔːs /

noun

1. the dissolution of a marriage by judgment of a court or by accepted custom

2. a judicial decree declaring a marriage to be dissolved

3. a separation, esp one that is total or complete

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verb

1. to separate or be separated by divorce; give or obtain a divorce (to a couple or from one's spouse)

2. (tr) to remove or separate, esp completely

divorcé ² British  

/ dɪˈvɔːseɪ /

noun

1. a man who has been divorced

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Gender

See fiancée.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• divorcer
  noun
• divorceable
  adjective
• divorcive
  adjective
• nondivorced
  adjective
• undivorceable
  adjective
• undivorced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• divorces
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of divorce¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin dīvortium “separation,” from dīvort(ere) variant of dīvertere “to turn away” ( see divert) + -ium -ium

Origin of divorcé²

First recorded in 1805–15; from French, noun use of masculine past participle of divorcer, from Medieval Latin dīvortiāre “to divorce,” derivative of Latin dīvortium “separation”; see divorce

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Explanation

A divorce is a formal ending of a marriage. It’s more permanent than a separation and involves a legal process. If you get a divorce, that means the marriage is officially over. Divorce has both a noun and a verb form. The noun describes the thing you get — "you are getting a divorce." And the verb describes the thing you do — "you are divorcing your spouse." Divorce can also be used more broadly to describe any major separation. You might know of a politician who divorces himself from a controversial issue — that means he doesn’t want to be associated with it at all.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

divorce divorcé divorces divorced divorcing

La La was already using a divorce label despite it not yet being official.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

There’s another complication: Last year, I gave my sister $25,000 from our joint savings when her divorce was about to cost her the house.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

A difficult conversation for half an hour or so is better than years — or even decades — of regret that can end in a painful and pricey divorce.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

A Florida husband representing himself in his divorce, who used AI, filed at least 145 motions, then sent an appeals court 45 AI-generated pages and an 863-page appendix explaining himself, according to court records.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

Maybe it was kismet, but they spotted an elderly Iranian man dining with his son and decided to rope them into their kooky divorce plan.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Yet the song was actually Mellencamp’s response to the emptiness he felt as a famous divorcé on the road playing the biggest concerts of his life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

The 66-year-old divorcé had just started seeing someone.

From Washington Post ● May 1, 2023

This German comedy about a divorcé who goes to extreme lengths to spend time with his daughter earned glowing reviews, despite running for a posterior-numbing two hours and 42 minutes.

From BBC ● May 22, 2016

“He would phone us at home sometimes, like on a Saturday,” Mr. Rush recalled, back when the presidential candidate was a city divorcé.

From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2016

He gave her rapidly a sketch of the life and antecedents of Lord Donald of Dunoon—gambler, wastrel, divorcé, et cetera, speaking quite frankly, almost as he would have spoken to a man.

From Helena by Mrs. Humphry Ward

As the journalists finalized their divorces with their ex-spouses in 2023, reports of a budding romance came to the forefront.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

Ms. Carvajal and Ms. Ostler, both journalists, track the marriages, divorces, Catholic conversions, births and deaths of various family members against the backdrop of a vanishing way of life and impending disaster.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Robach and Holmes both finalized their divorces in 2023.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

I’ve also heard from various people telling me their whole financial picture, down to the pennies in their accounts, and the ins and outs of their divorces, estate fights and bad relationships with financial professionals.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

But those were a couple of divorces and a serious illness ago, and the son looking over his shoulder at the mounted snapshots now had little in common with the boy in the pictures.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

She told the BBC that she wants to fight the stigma surrounding divorced women and reclaim her identity beyond marriage.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

She was briefly married to Ralph Head, at age 20, then married and divorced Ventura Huerta.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

Her father and mother had divorced, but Juan Fernandez’s legend had been fixed — a brawling union leader and New Mexico state legislator.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

His entry into politics came at age 17 after his father pushed him to run against his mother Rogeria on the Rio de Janeiro city council, a year after his parents divorced.

From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026

Van never lost his way with women, and he later married and divorced at least two heiresses.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Holmes and Robach disputed this claim in 2023, noting in their podcast they were both in the process of divorcing their exes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

Finally, the Sun splashes on the marriage breakup of Katie Price and her "conman hubby", as the paper puts it, with: "Katie: I'm divorcing you, Lee."

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

May 2021: Bill and Melinda French Gates announce they are divorcing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Keep in mind that divorcing solely for the purpose of qualifying for higher benefits may raise legal concerns if the divorce is not genuine.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

I couldn’t help but feel as though she was divorcing us, trading in her old allegiances for a new one.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

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Related Words

• annulment
• breakup
• dissolution
• separation
• split

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