lone parentn.adj.
/ˌləʊn ˈpɛːrənt/, /ˌləʊn ˈpɛːrn̩t/, U.S. /ˈloʊn ˈpɛrənt/ A. n.
A parent who does not live with a partner and thus has most, or all, of the responsibility for bringing up a child or children. Cf. lone adj.
ΚΠ
1949 N.Y. Times 20 Sept. 3/1 (advt.) Ample living space, meals available in Riverdale, N.Y.C. home for 12-year youth and lone parent.
1972 Ann. Rep. National Council Unmarried Mother & Child 1971–72 13/2 It is our contention that whether the lone parent is the mother or the father, and whether the cause of lone parenthood is divorce, separation, illegitimacy or loss of a parent through death, one-parent families have a number of problems in common.
1999 J. Bussemaker & K. van Kersbergen in D. Sainsbury Gender & Welfare State Regimes i. 27 The breadwinner bias is..evident in income-maintenance programmes for lone parents.
B. adj.
Designating a family or household headed by such a parent; of, for, or relating to a parent in such a situation. Cf. one-parent adj. at one adj., n., and pron. Compounds 3a.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinship group > family > [adjective] > relating to a one-parent family
one-parent1933
lone1949
single1969
lone parent1978
1978 Bull. 1976 Census of Canada 4 No. 6 (title) Families: Characteristics of parents in lone parent families.
1985 Population Stud. 39 34 Heads are sometimes described by their household type, for example ‘divorced men heading lone-parent households’.
1991 M. Mackie Gender Relations Canada v. 106/2 More than 80 percent of Canadian lone-parent families are headed by women.
1995 Independent 10 Nov. 5/4 He called for the..abolition of the lone parent premium.
2000 N. Fairclough New Labour, New Lang. v. 138 Lone parent organisations, employers and lone parents themselves have all welcomed this New Deal.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1949