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divorce

n. · v.
US //dɪˈvɔɹs// UK //dɪvˈɔːs// di·vorce
  1. 1 legal end of marriage (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Law

    the legal ending of a marriage by a court.

    the formal legal dissolution of a marriage by a judicial body or other competent authority.

    Example

    After ten years of marriage, they decided to get a divorce.

    Example

    The couple reached an amicable agreement regarding the division of assets before filing for a formal divorce.
  2. 2 separation of things (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a complete separation between two things that used to be connected.

    a total separation or disjunction between entities, concepts, or groups that were formerly associated.

    Example

    There is often a divorce between what politicians promise and what they actually do.

    Example

    Critics argued that the new policy represented a dangerous divorce between economic theory and the reality of the local market.
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  1. 3 animal pair separation (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Science

    when two animals that usually stay together for life choose to find new partners.

    the dissolution of a pair bond between mated animals, typically observed in monogamous species.

    Example

    Scientists studied why some birds experience a divorce after a failed nesting season.

    Example

    In certain species of albatross, environmental stress has been linked to an increased rate of divorce among established breeding pairs.
    • pair bond dissolution
  2. 4 to end a marriage (v.)
    B1 Intermediate Law

    to legally end your marriage to someone.

    to legally dissolve one's marriage; can be used transitively with a spouse as the object or intransitively.

    Example

    They divorced last year but remained good friends for the sake of their children.

    Example

    He decided to divorce his wife after discovering she had been hiding significant financial debts from him for years.
    Pitfall
    She divorced with her husband last year.
    She divorced her husband last year.

    The verb 'divorce' is transitive when mentioning the spouse; do not use the preposition 'with'.

  3. 5 to separate ideas or things (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to separate two ideas or subjects so they are no longer linked.

    to detach or disassociate something from something else, often used in the passive voice.

    Example

    You cannot divorce the country's history from its current problems.

    Example

    It is impossible to divorce the artist's personal struggles from the dark themes present in his later paintings.
Origin

Derived from Old French divorce, from Latin dīvortium, from dīvertere (“to turn aside”), from dī- (“apart”) + vertere (“to turn”); see verse.

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