a child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent.

a young animal that has been deserted by or has lost its mother.

a person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc.

The committee is an orphan of the previous administration.

Printing .

(esp. in word processing) the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.

widow ( def. 3b ) .

bereft of parents.

of or for orphans

an orphan home.

not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned

an orphan research project.

lacking a commercial sponsor, an employer, etc.

orphan workers.

to deprive of parents or a parent through death

He was orphaned at the age of four.

Informal . to deprive of commercial sponsorship, an employer, etc.

The recession has orphaned many experienced workers.

noun

foundling , ragamuffin * , stray , waif , forsaken