had been divorced vs was divorced

Both "had been divorced" and "was divorced" are correct, but they are used in different contexts. "Had been divorced" is used when referring to a past event that happened before another past event, while "was divorced" is used to simply state that someone got divorced in the past.

Last updated: March 24, 2024 • 4240 views

had been divorced

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is used to describe a past event that occurred before another past event. It indicates that the divorce happened at some point in the past.

Examples:

By the time she met him, she had been divorced for five years.
He had been divorced twice before he turned 40.

Show examples from the web [+]

I had been divorced for well over a year.
Look, I had just been divorced... and I wasn't dating anybody, so...
Carmen, you've been divorced for two years now.
I've been divorced seven times.
You can't have a Queen of England who's been divorced.
I've been divorced for a while now.
We've been divorced for a year. I'm not his custodian.
Cause Meredith has been divorced like, twice.
They've been divorced a year.
She's been divorced for, like, 20 minutes.
And I've been divorced twice.
Come on, the guy's been divorced three times.
Walter, you've been divorced seven months.
I was afraid to marry you because you'd been divorced.
I've been divorced from that nightmare for years.
We've been divorced almost four years.
No one in my family's ever been divorced before.
Guess the fact that I've been divorced.
I've been divorced for all of six months.
Chick, Jules and I have been divorced for years.

Alternatives:

had divorced
had gotten divorced
had ended their marriage
had split up

was divorced

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is used to simply state that someone got divorced in the past. It does not imply any specific time frame or sequence of events.

Examples:

She was divorced last year.
He was divorced twice in his lifetime.

Show examples from the web [+]

Turns out Neeley was divorced with a 12-year-old daughter.
The man who lived here was divorced.
When I was divorced this whole patch just fell right into place.
I lived there until I... I was divorced.
Did you ever find out if Carrie was divorced?
And my sister was divorced and she has 3 children
His Army file claimed that he was divorced with one dependent.
No, he was divorced, and i think for a long time.
You know, he mentioned he was divorced last night.
Well, as far as I know, he was divorced.
he was divorced and of a Yugoslav origin, with a Merv Hughes moustache.
You said that dennis rader, the btk killer, Was divorced and impotent.
Judith was divorced from what you have.
Her questionnaire said she was divorced.
Says here she was divorced in 2005.
He was divorced a couple of times.
Seven months later, I was divorced.
You'd have thought one Of them was divorced.
I knew he was divorced, but...
He was divorced from his wife on the grounds of extreme cruelty.

Alternatives:

got divorced
ended their marriage
split up

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

had been divorced vs was divorced