Meanings
- uncountableThe state or quality of being fatherless (not having a (living) father).
Obama did not respond to his fatherlessness or his racial predicament with anger and rage, but as questions for investigation, conversation and synthesis.
2007 December 18, David Brooks, “The Obama-Clinton Issue”, in New York Times2 more examples
Speaking about the epidemic of fatherlessness in black families, Mr. Cosby imagined a young fatherless child thinking: “Somewhere in my life a person called my father has not shown up, and I feel very sad about this because I don’t know if I’m ugly — I don’t know what the reason is.”
2007 October 16, Bob Herbert, “Tough, Sad and Smart”, in New York TimesHis themes have also been sounded by the comedian Bill Cosby, who has stirred debate among black Americans by bluntly speaking about an epidemic of fatherlessness in African-American families while suggesting that some blacks use racism as a crutch to explain the lack of economic progress.
2008 June 16, Julie Bosman, “Obama Calls for More Responsibility From Black Fathers”, in New York Times
Origin
Translations
German Vaterlosigkeit
- Vaterlosigkeitstate or quality of being fatherless
Polish brak ojca
- brak ojcastate or quality of being fatherless
Cite this entry
fatherlessness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fatherlessness
“fatherlessness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fatherlessness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fatherlessness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fatherlessness.
Source: fatherlessness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.