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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-sey, -vohr-, -vawr-sey, -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

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

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

In a suburb near Chicago, one home buyer in her 50s was on the hunt for a place to live as she finalized a divorce.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

There, he would divorce his wife and repay MI5 by working for them as a mole.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

In the late 2010s, he went through a hard divorce, lost the little he had managed to save, and found himself living in his car.

From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026

And that's not all - Alex is also back in the dating game following a divorce.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

With her soft white curls and graceful good manners, Stanton appeared harmless, but when she was at the podium she challenged her audiences with revolutionary ideas about divorce, religion, and women’s role in society.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

And there’s the leering, preening Rupert Mannion from “Ted Lasso” — multimillionaire soccer team owner, inveterate philanderer and incurably vindictive divorcé.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

The acclaimed “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” adapted by Taffy Brodesser-Akner from her bestselling 2019 novel, is ostensibly about this Manhattan divorcé and struggling single father, played by Jesse Eisenberg.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2023

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

From Washington Post ● May 1, 2023

Stepan, an outgoing 41-year-old divorcé with a pet hedgehog, posted photos of oxygen cylinders and explained that he had three in his apartment.

From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2022

First the twain fall desperately in love, and Edith, the Catholic, discovers Ben to be an innocent divorcé.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, September 26, 1917 by Various

In high-net worth divorces, parties typically divide assets in the most tax-efficient way possible.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 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

Both stars finalised divorces from their former partners during their time together.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

Lawyers who navigate the system for divorces, custody disputes and family court battles say it will be complicated.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2026

I would like to let the record show that Ali and Shohreh probably had the most amicable divorce in the history of divorces.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

"We measured outcomes like whether someone became employed or unemployed, whether they got married or divorced, and standard indicators of mental health," he said.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

After they divorced when I was 4, he moved to Seattle, where he remarried.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Kramer’s sister, Kaitlin, wrote on social media that Wehr had told the 22-year-old that he was “almost fully divorced and extremely separated.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

“After a marriage for this period of time, differentiating between marital and non-marital assets became excessively challenging,” when they got divorced, he says.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

When Grub was seven years old, Hugo and I separated and divorced.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

Remini and her former husband, Angelo Pagán, announced back in 2024 that they were divorcing after nearly 30 years together.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

According to the law offices of Christopher Le, divorcing for the sole purpose of obtaining benefits may be viewed as an attempt to manipulate the system.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

Her joy of divorcing my father was twofold as she not only left a somewhat feckless husband, but also de-Mycock-ed herself.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026

"When your mother said that she was divorcing your father and wanted to move to New York where she grew up, my grandmother set things up with Dr. Gershom."

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Related Words

• annulment
• breakup
• dissolution
• separation
• split