Do all people end up as orphans?

Question

When people grow older, their parents get older & die.

So does that mean that when your parents die, you are considered an orphan?

Answer 1

I do not know the legal definition of an orphan.  But when I as an adult lost my parents I felt very much like an orphan.  The sense of loss and being alone was very hard to deal with.  

More so than I had ever imagined it would be.

However as an adult I was perhaps better equipped to deal with my loss or had more tools to deal with loss than a small child might.

Answer 2

No. when you turn 18 you are an adult, and adults do not require a guardian, and thus cannot be orphans.

Answer 3

Funny you should make that observation - that's exactly how I felt when my parents died. I don't know if the technical definition encompasses this situation, but that's how I felt. It may only be formally defined it as people that have not had natural parents at all.

But, for me, I felt like I was left on this earth all alone.

Your parents (traditionally) are the only people that love you unconditionally and always have to take you in (my definition), and to whom you turn in time of need. So, when my parents died several years ago, I felt lost and abandoned because the people that had always been there for me throughout my life were no longer there. Not that I ever needed that cushion but knowing that it WAS there if I ever did, was very comforting.