English
orphan
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈɔːfən/
  • (GA) IPA: /ˈɔɹfən/
Noun

orphan (plural orphans)

  1. A person, especially a minor#Noun|minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.
  2. A person, especially a minor#Noun|minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them.
  3. A young animal with no mother.
  4. (figuratively) Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise#Noun|demise or decision to abandon.
  5. (typography) A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.
  6. (computing) Any unreferenced object.
Translations Translations Adjective

orphan (not comparable)

  1. Deprived of parents (also orphaned).
    She is an orphan child.
  2. (by extension, figuratively) Remaining after the removal of some form of support.
    With its government funding curtailed, the gun registry became an orphan program.
Related terms Verb

orphan (orphans, present participle orphaning; past and past participle orphaned)

  1. (transitive) To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive)
    What do you do when you come across two orphaned polar bear cubs?
  2. (transitive, computing) To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.
    When you removed that image tag, you orphaned the resized icon.
    Removing categories orphans pages from the main category tree.
Conjugation


Conjugation of orphan

infinitive (to) orphan
present tense past tense
1st-person singular orphanorphaned
2nd-person singular* orphan, orphanest*orphaned, orphanedst*
3rd-person singularorphans, orphaneth* orphaned#English|orphaned
plural orphan
subjunctive orphan
imperative orphan —
participle> participles orphaningorphaned
* Archaic or obsolete.



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