divorce

noun

/dɪˈvɔːs/

/dɪˈvɔːrs/

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[uncountable, countable] the legal ending of a marriage
- The marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
- an increase in the divorce rate (= the number of divorces in a year)
- They have agreed to get a divorce.
- Divorce proceedings (= the legal process of divorce) started today.
- Bella wants a divorce.
- He remarried after a divorce from his first wife, Kate.
- She told him she was filing for divorce.
Collocations Marriage and divorce
Marriage and divorceRomance
- fall/be (madly/deeply/hopelessly) in love (with somebody)
- be/believe in/fall in love at first sight
- be/find true love/the love of your life
- suffer (from) (the pains/pangs of) unrequited love
- have/feel/show/express great/deep/genuine affection for somebody/something
- meet/marry your husband/wife/partner/fiancé/fiancée/boyfriend/girlfriend
- have/go on a (blind) date
- be going out with/(especially North American English) dating a guy/girl/boy/man/woman
- move in with/live with your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner
Weddings
- get/be engaged/married/divorced
- arrange/plan a wedding
- have a big wedding/a honeymoon/a happy marriage
- have/enter into an arranged marriage
- call off/cancel/postpone your wedding
- invite somebody to/go to/attend a wedding/a wedding ceremony/a wedding reception
- conduct/perform a wedding ceremony
- exchange rings/wedding vows/marriage vows
- congratulate/toast/raise a glass to the happy couple
- be/go on honeymoon (with your wife/husband)
- celebrate your first (wedding) anniversary
Separation and divorce
- be unfaithful to/(informal) cheat on your husband/wife/partner/fiancé/fiancée/boyfriend/girlfriend
- have an affair (with somebody)
- break off/end an engagement/a relationship
- break up with/split up with/ (informal) dump your boyfriend/girlfriend
- separate from/be separated from/leave/divorce your husband/wife
- annul/dissolve a marriage
- apply for/ask for/go through/get a divorce
- get/gain/be awarded/have/lose custody of the children
- pay alimony/child support (to your ex-wife/husband)
compare separation
Extra Examples
- He cited adultery as grounds for divorce.
- He hasn't signed the divorce papers yet.
- He is waiting for the divorce to come through before he remarries.
- He told her that he was married but getting a divorce.
- Neither partner had considered divorce.
- Once the divorce is finalized, I plan to move to Bermuda.
- Over 50 000 divorces were granted last year.
- Parental divorce can have lasting negative consequences for children.
- She filed for divorce in 2019.
- She is seeking a divorce on the grounds of cruelty.
- She watched her parents go through an acrimonious divorce.
- The church may disapprove but Catholics can and do obtain civil divorces.
- The divorce rate has been growing steadily since 1971.
- The majority of divorces are initiated by women.
- These days divorce is rarely contested.
- her divorce from the pop star
- the lawyers handling their divorce
Topics Family and relationshipsb2, Law and justiceb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- amicable
- uncontested
- no-fault
- …
verb + divorce
- want
- apply for
- ask for
- …
divorce + verb
- come through
divorce + noun
- court
- case
- proceedings
- …
preposition
- divorce from
- divorce on the grounds of
phrases
- grounds for divorce
See full entry
[countable, usually singular] divorce (between A and B) (formal) an act of separating two things; the ending of a relationship between two things
- the divorce between religion and science

divorce

verb

/dɪˈvɔːs/

/dɪˈvɔːrs/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they divorce	/dɪˈvɔːs/ /dɪˈvɔːrs/
he / she / it divorces	/dɪˈvɔːsɪz/ /dɪˈvɔːrsɪz/
past simple divorced	/dɪˈvɔːst/ /dɪˈvɔːrst/
past participle divorced	/dɪˈvɔːst/ /dɪˈvɔːrst/
-ing form divorcing	/dɪˈvɔːsɪŋ/ /dɪˈvɔːrsɪŋ/

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[transitive, intransitive] divorce (somebody) to end your marriage to somebody legally
- They're getting divorced.
- She's divorcing her husband.
- I'd heard they're divorcing.
Topics Family and relationshipsb2, Law and justiceb2
[transitive, often passive] divorce somebody/something from something (formal) to separate a person, an idea, a subject, etc. from something; to keep two things separate
- They believed that art should be divorced from politics.
Extra Examples
- He lived in a world of his own, increasingly divorced from reality.
- The word has become utterly divorced from its original meaning.
- He argues that morality cannot be divorced from religion.