divorce

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /dɪˈvɔːs/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /dɪˈvɔrs/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

Noun

Singular divorce

Plural divorces

1. Divorce is the legal ending of a marriage.

   Did you know that Richard and Sarah got a divorce?

2. A separation of connected things.

   There is a geographic divorce between the United States and Mexico.

Verb

Plain form divorce

Third-person singular divorces

Past tense divorced

Past participle divorced

Present participle divorcing

1. (transitive) To divorce is to legally end a marriage between two people.

   The captain of a ship can marry couples, but cannot divorce them.

2. (transitive) If you divorce someone, you end your marriage to them.

   Lucy divorced Steve when she found that he had been unfaithful.

3. (transitive) To separate something that was connected.

   The smaller group voted to divorce itself from the larger one.

4. (intransitive) To get a legal divorce.

   Edna and Simon divorced last year; he got the house, and she got the business.