trophy wife
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of trophy wife
An Americanism dating back to 1985–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She goes from wanting to be a trophy wife with nothing to do, to braving a world that isn’t built for her, dressing and acting like she already has a seat at the table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
Demi Moore co-stars as a late oil baron’s trophy wife who’s trying to initiate a hostile takeover, and Sam Elliott joins the cast as the father of Thornton’s character.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
Since we’re child-free and I already finished college, I suppose you could call me a trophy wife, but firstly, I’m nonbinary, and secondly, that’s the rub.
From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2022
The elderly mother of the trophy wife of a tetchy physician just up and dies.
From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2021
As in, she was just emblematic of all first wives everywhere who did everything for their husbands and then got dumped for a trophy wife.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2019
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
