Orphan

/ˈɔːfən/ · noun

Meaning

A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died..

Definitions by Sense

1. A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.
2. A person, especially a 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 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.
7. Deprived of parents (also orphaned).
8. (by extension, figuratively) Remaining after the removal of some form of support.

Example Sentences

Rudolf was the bold, bad Baron of traditional melodrama. Irene was young, as pretty as a picture, fresh from a music academy in England. He was the scion of an ancient noble family; she an orphan without money or friends.

An orphan isn't harmful in a language that has garbage collection, such as Java. However, reducing the number of orphans can be expected to improve code performance.

She is an orphan child.

With its government funding curtailed, the gun registry became an orphan program.

What do you do when you come across two orphaned polar bear cubs?

When you removed that image tag, you orphaned the resized icon.

Removing categories orphans pages from the main category tree.

Synonyms for orphan

Antonyms for orphan

Related Words

Word Forms

• orphans
• orphane
• orphaning
• orphaned
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• orphan
• orphanest
• orphanedst
• orphaneth
• -

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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