orphaned
Left tragically alone
Orphaned describes someone, especially a child, who has lost both parents to death.
The word extends to anything abandoned or left without its natural support: an orphaned project no longer has a sponsor, orphaned data exists without connection to its source.
In computing, an orphaned file or process has lost its parent reference.
She was orphaned at six and raised by her grandmother.
Abandoned child discovered
- wardProtected person; division
- adopteeOne legally taken in
- fosterlingChild raised by non-parents
- waifAbandoned, neglected child
urchin · guardian · foster care · adoption · custody · institutionalized · motherless · fatherless
Completely abandoned or discarded
- desertedLeft behind, uninhabited
- neglectedNot given proper attention
- discardedGotten rid of
- rejectedRefused or turned away
left behind · cast off · disowned · forgotten · relinquished · unwanted · dumped · spurned
Person fleeing danger abroad
- exileBanishment from homeland
- statelessWithout national belonging
- homelessWithout a dwelling
- uprootedRemoved from foundation
dispossessed · evacuee · unaccompanied minor · ward of state · street child · institutionalized · rootless · unsettled
Unable to act independently
- defenselessWithout means to resist
- unprotectedWithout safeguard or shield
- at-riskSubject to potential harm
- needyWanting in essentials
dependent · fragile · exposed · powerless · disadvantaged · marginalized · impoverished · destitute
Separated from others
- detachedApart or uninvolved
- separatedPut or kept apart
- severedCut off completely
- unlinkedNot joined together
deprecated · legacy · dead code · dangling · unattached · broken link · stale · obsolete
foundling
Abandoned child discovered
- wardProtected person; division
- adopteeOne legally taken in
- fosterlingChild raised by non-parents
waif · urchin · guardian · foster care · adoption · custody · institutionalized · motherless · fatherless · bereaved
forsaken
Completely abandoned or discarded
rejected · left behind · cast off · disowned · forgotten · relinquished · unwanted · dumped · spurned · stranded
refugee
Person fleeing danger abroad
uprooted · dispossessed · evacuee · unaccompanied minor · ward of state · street child · institutionalized · rootless · unsettled · transient
helpless
Unable to act independently
- defenselessWithout means to resist
- unprotectedWithout safeguard or shield
- at-riskSubject to potential harm
needy · dependent · fragile · exposed · powerless · disadvantaged · marginalized · impoverished · destitute · precarious
isolated
Separated from others
unlinked · deprecated · legacy · dead code · dangling · unattached · broken link · stale · obsolete · unmaintained
- ownerlessstray, abandoned, unclaimed, unowned, ownerless
- abandonmentabandon, abandoned, forsake, desert, leave
- statusespending, active, approved, inactive, completed
- lostlost, missing, mislaid, misplaced, gone
- unusedunused, idle, untouched, vacant, empty
- birthlive birth, stillbirth, premature birth, breech birth, multiple birth
- war orphanChild parentless from conflict
- orphaned childrenYouth whose parents died
- Little Orphan AnnieRedheaded comic strip waif
- orphan heroHeroic figure without parents
- half orphanOne parent remains alive
- orphan careSupport for parentless children