divorce
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The legal dissolution of a marriage.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihvawrsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪˈvɔɹs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The legal dissolution of a marriage
A separation of connected things.
The 65th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
verb
transitive
To legally dissolve a marriage between two people.
transitive
To end one's own marriage to (a person) in this way.
transitive
To separate something that was connected.
Get a divorce; formally terminate a marriage
“The couple divorced after only 6 months.”
intransitive
To obtain a legal divorce.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The legal dissolution of a marriage
Used this way, divorce is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
- Family/home
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A court having jurisdiction over the termination of marriage contracts.
A lawyer specializing in actions for divorce or annulment.
A man who is divorced from (or separated from) his wife.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: legal dissolution of a marriage
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.