How to Use orphan in a Sentence

orphan

1 of 2 noun
Definition of orphannext
Synonyms for orphannext
  • After her friend dies, she is left to take on the care of orphan Gael aged 8.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Left behind were nine métisse girls and 20 or so of the newborn orphans.
    — Jocelyn C. Zuckerman, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Apr. 2023
  • The character grew from an orphan with a knack for the Force into a Rebel who trained in the ways of the Jedi.
    — Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Today, the 3-and-a-half year old, known as Baby Doe, is an orphan no longer.
    — Luis Martinez, ABC News, 14 Jan. 2023
  • His father, who grew up an orphan, smoke and drank with him.
    — Kenan Draughorne, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2024
  • What if Bruce Wayne wasn’t an orphan — would there still be a Batman?
    — Todd Spangler, Variety, 23 May 2022
  • Both my parents died in the past few months, leaving me an orphan in midlife.
    — Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Moonrise Kingdom asks a lot of young Jared Gilman in the role of angry orphan Sam.
    — Joe Reid, Vulture, 26 June 2023
  • This show was going to make people want to steal an orphan.
    — Graham Techler, The New Yorker, 14 Jan. 2023
  • This time, it’s embarked upon by a young orphan boy and his beloved camel.
    — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 6 Dec. 2023
  • It’s a father figure, a strongman figure that attracts all of the orphan souls of the world.
    — John Benson, cleveland, 10 Dec. 2022
  • The orphanage took Sonia in but soon could manage to feed the orphans only three beans a day.
    — Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 19 Dec. 2023
  • Some studies have shown that some of the Hamas - the majority of Hamas fighters were orphans.
    — CBS News, 19 Nov. 2023
  • The family-friendly story stars Mowgli, the orphan, Kaa the snake, Shere Khan the tiger and giant puppets.
    — Marcia Luttrellcontributor, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Sep. 2022
  • Benjamin said many of the Hamas fighters are orphans due to Israeli attacks.
    — Brady Knox, Washington Examiner, 30 Nov. 2023
  • Emily, like Anne, is an orphan, but there the resemblance ends.
    — V.m. Braganza, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2023
  • In that red-haired orphan, the red-lipped, tattooed Workman has a kindred spirit.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 3 Feb. 2024
  • Riad was raised in a school for orphans, his daughter Khuzama said.
    — Adam Nossiter, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2024
  • Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Monday that the child is now believed to be an orphan.
    — Mike Mavredakis, Hartford Courant, 22 June 2022
  • The 4-month-old, named Chosen’One Chase Garrett, became an orphan in a matter of seconds as the bullets whizzed past his tiny frame.
    — Taylor Hartz, Hartford Courant, 27 June 2022
  • A number of orphan puppies from Helen Woodward came to the event, and Qualley fell in love with one of the furry pups and adopted him.
    — Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Aug. 2023
  • His grandfather was an orphan that went on to have a large family.
    — Liza Foreman, Variety, 19 Nov. 2022
  • And together with Perkin, the two make a pair reminiscent of the French orphan Madeline and her friend Pepito.
    — Jourdain Searles, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Sep. 2022
  • Her son, Hrisha, is now an orphan, his father having died of a brain hemorrhage last year.
    — Megan Specia Brendan Hoffman, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2022
  • The protagonist, Akio, is a scrappy and impulsive 18-year-old orphan determined to make it to the top of the sumo world, no matter the cost.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Oct. 2023
  • Maisie Brumble, the orphan, stows away on the ship of the famous Jacob Holland, hoping to help him destroy monsters.
    — Marisa Lascala, Good Housekeeping, 29 Nov. 2022
  • Muhammad grew up like an orphan in the city after his father went off to join the Kurdish freedom fighters in the mountains.
    — Kareem Abdulrahman, Harper’s Magazine , 14 Dec. 2022
  • The central character in the film is an orphan who has been the victim of many disasters and is trying to find her way back to a more normal life.
    — Karen Idelson, Variety, 12 Jan. 2024
  • But the 2-year-old now is left to grow up without either of his parents -- an orphan of America's bane of mass shootings.
    — Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN, 6 July 2022
  • He’s thrown together with teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a smart-mouthed orphan who may hold the key to a cure.
    — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2023
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orphan

2 of 2 verb
  • For starters, Elisa was found in a river and orphaned as a baby.
    — Peggy Truong, Cosmopolitan, 6 Mar. 2018
  • Above all, the children murdered, and the many children now orphaned.
    — Tommy McArdle, Peoplemag, 30 Oct. 2023
  • If they were found to be orphaned, they were allowed to travel to the United States.
    — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 9 Dec. 2019
  • The four currently at the zoo were orphaned when their mothers were killed by boats.
    — Scott Wartman, Cincinnati.com, 24 June 2019
  • Since then, he’s been taking pictures of the seal, who appears to be orphaned.
    — Averi Kremposky, Peoplemag, 23 June 2023
  • But many of those that survive the bombardment have been left orphaned.
    — Zoe Magee, ABC News, 8 Nov. 2023
  • He was orphaned at 12 and reared by foster parents on a farm in the nearby town of Hurleyville.
    — Richard Goldstein, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2019
  • Aracely was convinced the virus would kill her and orphan her children.
    — Evan Allen and Beth Teitell, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Mar. 2021
  • When flames tore into Notre Dame in 2019, people who worked in the cathedral felt orphaned.
    — John Leicester, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Dec. 2023
  • There were so many children left alone, abandoned and orphaned by AIDS.
    — Kathleen Hou, The Cut, 13 Apr. 2018
  • And a 6-year-old boy is now orphaned after his younger brother and parents were gunned down.
    — Holly Yan, CNN, 10 May 2023
  • The young bobcats may have been on school grounds because they’d been orphaned or abandoned, the news release states.
    — oregonlive, 13 Nov. 2019
  • In 2003, five baby elephants, which had been orphaned in Zimbabwe, were brought to the ranch.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 12 Nov. 2019
  • The crash course in parenting was a challenge for Mom and Dad, but for the strong little girl who had been orphaned as a newborn?
    — Eileen Finan, PEOPLE.com, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Williams was orphaned at 4 and spent the rest of his life overcoming obstacles.
    — Janet Eastman, OregonLive.com, 31 May 2017
  • Little Willa, who was orphaned as a newborn, first crossed paths with her now-mother in April 2016.
    — Blair Donovan, Country Living, 7 Apr. 2019
  • Last year, three bear cubs were orphaned after their mother was hit and killed on Tioga Road.
    — Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Dec. 2017
  • So the spasm of violence that left the Olathe couple dead Monday and their three children orphaned has left many who knew them in shock.
    — Tony Rizzo, kansascity, 2 Aug. 2017
  • Not all the Lost Boys have thrived; some hit the bottle and ended up in jail (as might anyone orphaned, shot at and chased by crocodiles).
    — The Economist, 1 Mar. 2018
  • Big Oak Ranch serves orphaned, abused, abandoned and neglected children and has been home to more than 2,000 kids.
    — Josh Bean | Jbean@al.com, al, 10 Jan. 2020
  • Some had been orphaned or were placed in foster homes when their birth parents became unable to care for them.
    — Ivana Kottasová, CNN, 15 Mar. 2024
  • But when tragedy strikes, the three children are left orphaned, and 16-year-old Anh becomes the caretaker for her two younger brothers overnight.
    — Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 16 May 2023
  • The Child Tax Credit may be the starkest case of a program orphaned despite its inescapable value.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2023
  • He was orphaned as a teenager, but said community elders raised him and filled his head with stories of the past.
    — Gregory S. Schneider, Washington Post, 29 Apr. 2023
  • Her mother was born the daughter of a Methodist schoolmaster but was orphaned and taken in by a Muslim man who prayed five times a day.
    — Hannah Beech, New York Times, 30 June 2023
  • Some have been orphaned, while others endure the fear of their parents being killed by Israeli strikes.
    — Sana Noor Haq, CNN, 2 Mar. 2024
  • The character was that of an emotionally fragile girl orphaned by the Nazis.
    — Nancy Bilyeau, Town & Country, 29 Nov. 2018
  • Born a slave in southwest Missouri and then orphaned, Carver became one of the nation’s finest botanists and inventors of the first half of the 20th century.
    — Dan Kelly, kansascity, 19 Feb. 2018
  • Kristal was orphaned shortly after World War I and moved to Lodz to work in the family confectionary business in 1920.
    — Ian Deitch, The Seattle Times, 12 Aug. 2017
  • The people who were orphaned on PlayStation or Xbox became a group of people who were much stronger together.
    — Andrew Webster, The Verge, 23 Mar. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'orphan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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