orphan
noun
or·phan
| \ ˈȯr-fən
\
\
Definition of orphan
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: a child deprived by death of one or usually both parents
He became an orphan when his parents died in a car accident.
2
: a young animal that has lost its mother
feeding calves that are orphans
3
: one deprived of some protection or advantage
orphans of the storm refugee orphans of the war
4
: a first line (as of a paragraph) separated from its related text and appearing at the bottom of a printed page or column
orphan
verb
orphaned;
orphaning\ ˈȯr-fə-niŋ
, ˈȯrf-niŋ \
, ˈȯrf-niŋ \
Definition of orphan (Entry 2 of 2)
: to cause to become an orphan
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Other Words from orphan
Noun
orphan
adjective
orphanhood
\ ˈȯr-fən-ˌhu̇d
\
noun
\
noun
Examples of orphan in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Most firearms used in crimes are orphans of a system that seems geared to forget them. — Azam Ahmed, New York Times, "One Handgun, 9 Murders: How American Firearms Cause Carnage Abroad," 25 Aug. 2019 Successful economies are like successful wars: Everyone wants ownership, much as defeats and recessions are orphans. — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, "The Economy, Father of Us All," 23 July 2019 Children living in Haitian orphanages often aren’t actually orphans. — Tyler Kraft, Indianapolis Star, "Indians pitching coach returns to baseball following 18 years in a traveling ministry," 28 June 2019 Lola’s colleagues believe her to be an orphan, deliberately single and solely focused on work. — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, "Review: ‘The Ground Beneath My Feet’ tracks a woman’s tightly wound world falling apart," 31 July 2019 Tonoyan, who spent 18 months working on the project with some 30 families, said his grandparents met as orphans in Alexandropol, or modern Gyumri in northwestern Armenia. — Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, "St. Paul church at heart of exhibit that remembers Armenian Genocide in photos and text," 25 July 2019 The story follows a young girl named Lyra Belacqua (played by Logan’s Dafne Keen) who grows up as an orphan in Oxford. — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "A war is brewing in the new trailer for HBO’s fantasy series His Dark Materials," 19 July 2019 Today, there are more than 20,000 Ebola orphans in West Africa. — David Mckenzie, CNN, "Fear and failure: How Ebola sparked a global health revolution," 26 May 2018 One day Zarifa and several Afghan war orphans were invited to meet King Abdullah, who was in Kabul on an official visit. — Richard Mcgill Murphy, Town & Country, "Desert Prep," 17 Dec. 2012Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
There was the frightening and incongruous grinning and thumbs up over an infant recently orphaned by a mass shooter. — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, "A Slow News Month for Trump," 23 Aug. 2019 The zoo houses Arctic and sub-Arctic animals including polar bears, Amur tigers, wolves and lynx, and cares for orphaned and injured wildlife. — Anchorage Daily News, "Photos: Behind the scenes at the Alaska Zoo," 17 Aug. 2019 Our San Diego Wildlife Center rehabilitates and releases sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. — Denise Davidson, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Encinitas nonprofit trying to meet the ‘needs of the community, human and animal’," 26 Apr. 2019 The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center at 18740 Highland Valley Road provides care for more than 800 native wild animals annually who are orphaned, injured or otherwise imperiled. — Ramona Sentinel, "Wildlife center seeing record number of patients," 18 July 2019 Onlookers had feared the cub was possibly orphaned after its mother wasn’t spotted with it. — USA TODAY, "Saving whales, Manson murder house: News from around our 50 states," 17 July 2019 Born on the South Side of Chicago, Mr. Ewing was orphaned as a child and raised by relatives. — Antonia Noori Farzan, BostonGlobe.com, "Russ Ewing, 95; Chicago TV reporter convinced more than 115 suspects to surrender," 29 June 2019 Josephine was orphaned at age 6 and lived with maternal aunts in West Boylston MA,Cohoes NY and New Haven CT. — courant.com, "Josephine E. Rovaldi," 10 July 2019 The four currently at the zoo were orphaned when their mothers were killed by boats. — Scott Wartman, Cincinnati.com, "It takes a lot of green to buy greens for manatees. Here's how the Cincinnati Zoo spends your money," 24 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'orphan.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for orphan
orphan
noun
English Language Learners Definition of orphan
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a child whose parents are dead
orphan
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of orphan (Entry 2 of 2)
: to cause (a child) to become an orphan
See the full definition for orphan in the English Language Learners Dictionary
orphan
noun
or·phan
| \ ˈȯr-fən
\
\
Kids Definition of orphan
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a child whose parents are dead
orphan
verb
orphaned;
orphaning
Kids Definition of orphan (Entry 2 of 2)
: to cause to have no parents : cause to become an orphan
She was orphaned as a baby.
orphan
noun
or·phan