<p><strong>noun</strong></p><ul><li>A child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent.</li><li>A young animal that has been deserted by or has lost its mother.</li><li>A person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc.: The committee is an orphan of the previous administration.</li><li>Printing: the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.</li><li>Widow (def 3b).</li></ul><p><strong>adjective</strong></p><ul><li>Bereft of parents.</li><li>Of or for orphans: an orphan home.</li><li>Not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned: an orphan research project.</li><li>Lacking a commercial sponsor, an employer, etc.: orphan workers.</li></ul><p><strong>verb</strong></p><ul><li>(Used with object) To deprive of parents or a parent through death: He was orphaned at the age of four.</li><li>Informal: to deprive of commercial sponsorship, an employer, etc.: The recession has orphaned many experienced workers.</li></ul>