divorce

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Dissolution of marriage

Nouns

1. divorce, divorcement, [legal or trial] separation, dissolution, annulment, parting of the ways, breakup, split-up; contested or uncontested divorce, no-fault divorce, Enoch Arden divorce; marriage counseling; conflict-habituated marriage; binuclear family, broken home; digamy. Slang, matchruptcy, holy deadlock. See disjunction.

2. alimony, palimony, child support; nonsupport; visiting privilege.

3. (grounds for divorce) adultery, affair, bigamy, incompatibility, [mental] cruelty, spousal abuse, estrangement, infidelity, inconstancy.

4. divorcé[e], grass widow[er]; cuckold, bluebeard.

Verbs — divorce, get a divorce or an annulment, sue for divorce; separate, break up, split [up]. Informal, go to Reno, call it quits, get unhitched, cut loose, untie the knot. Slang, dewife, ratfuck.

Adjectives — divorced, separated, split, newly single. Informal, unhitched, in circulation; on the rocks.

Phrases — hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Quotations — The divorce will be gayer than the wedding (Colette), Love, the quest; marriage, the conquest; divorce, the inquest (Helen Rowland).

Antonyms, see marriage.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. separation, estrangement, dissociation, breach, divorcement, bill of divorce, annulment, separate maintenance, parting of the ways, legal separation, judicial separation, decree nisi, dissolution, rift, split, partition, split-up, breakup, broken home; see also cancellation , division 1 .

Ant. marriage*, betrothal, wedding.

v.

Syn. separate, unmarry, annul, release from wedlock, release from matrimony, obtain a divorce, sunder, nullify, put away, part, split up, break up; see also cancel 2 , divide 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

disunion, separation, *split, breakup, dissolution, annulment, parting. ''A hash made of domestic scraps.''—Ed Wynn. ''Holy deadlock.''—A.P. Herbert.

II

v.

1. separate dissociate, split, sever, part, detach.

2. end marriage dissolve, annul, split up, break up.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun The act or an instance of separating one thing from another: detachment, disjunction, dis-juncture, disseverance, disseverment, disunion, division, divorcement, parting, partition, separation, severance, split. See ASSEMBLE, PART. II verb To become or cause to become apart one from another: break, detach, disjoin, disjoint, disunite, divide, part, separate, split (up). Idioms: part company, set at odds. See ASSEMBLE.