fatherless
adjEtymology From Middle English faderles, federles, from Old English fæderlēas, from Proto-Germanic *fadērlausaz, equivalent to father + -less. Cognate with German vaterlos.
1
Without a (living) father.
- “Homer’s Triple Bypass” has the potential to be the most depressing episode in the history of The Simpsons, if not television as whole. It is, after all, about a 36-year-old husband and father staring down death and the prospect of leaving his wife a young widow and his small children fatherless.2012 June 17, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Homer’s Triple Bypass” (season 4, episode 11; originally aired 12/17/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
2
Figuratively Without a known author or inventor.
- Derived terms
- fatherlessness
- Related terms
- half orphan, orphan
- Hypernyms
- parentless
- Coordinate terms
- motherless