Meaning & use
divorce
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
The official, legal ending of a marriage.
Grammar: Countable for a case: a messy divorce. Uncountable in general: divorce is common.
Patterns
- a divorce from someone
- file for divorce
- get a divorce
Their divorce was finalized in March.
She filed for divorce after ten years of marriage.
Divorce can be hard on children.
nounsingularfigurative
A complete separation between two things that should be connected.
Grammar: Used with a, followed by between or of: a divorce between policy and reality.
Patterns
- a divorce between something and something
There is a divorce between what politicians say and what they do.
The film shows a divorce of art from everyday life.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To legally end your marriage to someone.
Grammar: Takes a person as object: she divorced him. No preposition is needed; never divorce with someone.
Patterns
- divorce someone
- get divorced
He divorced his first wife in 2010.
They divorced two years ago and share custody.
My parents divorced when I was small.
verbtransitiveformalfigurative
To separate one thing from another completely, especially an idea from its context.
Grammar: Usually passive or followed by from: divorce politics from religion.
Patterns
- divorce something from something
It is impossible to divorce the music from the era that produced it.
The plan seems divorced from reality.
Try not to divorce your feelings from your decisions entirely.
Word forms
| plural | divorces |
|---|---|
| third person singular | divorces |
| past tense | divorced |
| past participle | divorced |
| -ing form | divorcing |
Common combinations
- file for divorce
- She decided to file for divorce last spring.
- get a divorce
- They plan to get a divorce amicably.
- messy divorce
- Their messy divorce dragged on for years.
- divorce rate
- The divorce rate has fallen in recent years.
- divorce settlement
- The divorce settlement gave her the house.
- divorced from reality
- His ideas seem divorced from reality.
Synonyms and how they differ
- separation
- Separation means living apart and may be temporary, while divorce legally ends the marriage.
- annulment
- An annulment declares that a marriage was never valid, whereas a divorce ends a valid marriage.
- split
- Split is informal and can describe any breakup, whether or not the couple was married.
- detach
- Detach is used for the figurative sense of separating ideas, and it carries no legal meaning.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: divorce or separate?
divorce vs separate
People who separate live apart, but they remain legally married until a court grants a divorce.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
Divorce takes a direct object for the spouse, with no preposition. The other options add an unnecessary preposition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “divorce”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.