wife
noun
a married woman, especially when considered in relation to her partner in marriage.
wife
1 American
[wahyf]
/ waɪf /
noun
-
wives
plural
-
a married woman, especially when considered in relation to her partner in marriage.
-
a woman (archaic or dial., except in idioms).
old wives' tale.
verb (used with or without object)
wifed,
wifing
idioms
-wife
2
American
wife
British
/ waɪf /
noun
-
a man's partner in marriage; a married woman
-
an archaic or dialect word for woman
-
to marry (a woman)
wife
More Idioms
Usage
What is a basic definition of wife? A wife is a married woman. The word wife is often used when a woman’s marital status is important to the current topic. For example, a man might explain to a salesperson that he is looking for a present for his wife, which is a lot more helpful than saying he is buying a gift for “a woman.”The plural of wife is wives. A man who is married is called a husband. A woman whose marital partner has died is called a widow.
- Real-life examples: Queen Isabella I of Castille was the wife of King Ferdinand II of Aragon. King Henry VIII infamously had six wives (but one at a time!). If you are married to a woman, then she is your wife.
- Used in a sentence: My uncle has never been married and says he has no interest in finding a wife.
- Used in a sentence: The documentary explored the lives of prison wives.
What does -wife mean? The combining form -wife is used like a suffix to mean “wife" or, more generally, "woman." It’s used in a variety of terms, especially in reference to professions, but it’s relatively uncommon except for in a few words. The form -wife comes from Old English wīf, meaning “woman.” Wīf was eventually combined with mann, which was then a gender-neutral term for an adult person, to create wīfmann, the source of the modern word woman. Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entry for -woman. What are variants of -wife?Just as the word wives is used as a plural form of the word wife, the ending -wives is often used as a plural form of -wife, as in midwives.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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wifedomnoun
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wifehoodnoun
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wifelessnessnoun
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wifelinessnoun
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wifelessadjective
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wifelikeadjective
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wifelyadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of wife
before 900; Middle English, Old English wīf woman; cognate with Dutch wijf, German Weib, Old Norse vīf
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.
See Examples For:
He had stayed with his wife and sisters to look after their animals.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Just two nights earlier, Jimmy Kimmel introduced his own clingy “assistant Natalie,” played by his wife and the show’s executive producer, Molly McNearney.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
Amodei became an adviser to GiveWell and, later, a scientific adviser to the philanthropy it spun off with the fortune of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, which was then called Open Philanthropy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
President Emmanuel Macron was not expected to attend the mass and would be represented by his wife Brigitte.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
It might not be so easy to arrange a rescue for Abby and Jonathan and another for his wife.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
Oys′ter-wench, -wife, -wom′an, a woman who vends oysters.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
The pair shook hands and posed for photographs alongside their wives outside 10 Downing Street on Thursday morning.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Accompanied by their wives, the leaders joined Charles and Queen Camilla at the museum, where they previewed the landmark Bayeux Tapestry exhibition ahead of its public opening next week.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The pair were brought together by their wives, who shared a common background in modeling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Anne Boleyn was the second of Henry VIII’s six wives and the first to lose her head.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
There were very few couples dining in the main room, but the bar was crammed with young Marine officers, their wives, and their dates.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
"I'm sore offended in the lad I'm wifed to."
From Blind Man's Lantern by George Luther Schelling
From her perspective, all-powerful cosmic beings have no business wifing up with mortals.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2025
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.
