single parent

¹ American  

noun

1. a parent or guardian who brings up a child or children alone, without a partner.

   Being a single parent isn’t easy.

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single-parent ² American  

[sing-guhl-pair-uhnt, ‐-par-uhnt] / ˈsɪŋ gəlˈpɛər ənt, ‐ˈpær ənt /

adjective

1. of or noting a family in which a parent brings up a child or children alone, without a partner: a single-parent household.

   a single-parent family;

   a single-parent household.

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single parent British  

noun

1. Also called (NZ): solo parent. 

   1. a person who has a dependent child or dependent children and who is widowed, divorced, or unmarried

   2. ( as modifier )

      a single-parent family

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Etymology

Origin of single parent¹

First recorded in 1850–60

Origin of single-parent²

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Single parent Kayleigh Glendon, from Kent, had spent about 14 years trying to find out what was wrong before she was diagnosed with Stage 4 endometriosis in 2022.

From BBC

Cummings Koski, a single parent who herself retired with a $1.2 million portfolio at age 49 after aggressively investing for 15 years, supported herself and her teen daughter on about $40,000 to $45,000 during that time and saved the other 30% to 40% of her income.

From MarketWatch

"I was a single parent, bringing up my five-year old daughter. Sophie had only recently started at the local primary school and we were doing well. We had taken our time to get over her mum's death, but we were doing extremely well," he says.

From BBC

She draws inspiration from her mother, a Philadelphia-area lawyer who raised Kutler as a single parent and successfully battled the disease in her 60s.

From Los Angeles Times

As a single parent living with her father, stepmother and brother, she said "you want to create security, but when your wages are unpredictable, everything feels uncertain".

From BBC