widower

American  

[wid-oh-er] / ˈwɪd oʊ ər /

noun

• widowers
  plural

1. a man who has lost his spouse by death and has not remarried.

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widower British  

/ ˈwɪdəʊə /

noun

1. a man whose wife has died and who has not remarried

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• widowerhood
  noun
• widowered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• widowers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of widower

1325–75; late Middle English ( see widow, -er ¹); replacing widow (now dial.), Old English wydewa

Explanation

If your grandmother has died, you can call your grandfather a widower, or a man whose wife is no longer living. When a man loses his wife, he becomes a widower. The equivalent name for a woman whose husband dies is a widow. In many cases, a man is only referred to as a widower if he has not remarried. Both a widow and a widower are described as being widowed. The feminine form of this word came first, from the Old English widewe. The Indo-European root means "be empty," which perfectly describes the grief that many recent widowers feel.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

widower widowers

In November, a Chicago jury awarded $28.45 million to the widower of Shikha Garg of New Delhi, who died in the Ethiopian crash.

From Barron's ● May 4, 2026

A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

He’s also a widower who lost his wife not to some boring disease but in a way that only a real spitfire would go, by flipping her ATV.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026

And not to sound macabre, but it also sets up a “waiting game” for the widow or widower to die.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 3, 2026

“Your uncle also became a widower when he was young. That is why we are like two children living in the house with our mother and father.”

From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar

The scandal is especially egregious because widows and widowers are disproportionately among the poorest elders.

From MarketWatch ● May 1, 2026

Changes in tax policy in intervening years allowed widows and widowers to access their spouses’ unused exemptions and now the more generous exemptions make it worth revisiting these trusts.

From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026

Widows and widowers talk about the pain of the "firsts" without their late partner - anniversaries, birthdays, major life events.

From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025

Widows and widowers miss spouses who died during the height of the pandemic.

From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2024

“Mama’s takin’ it all right, I s’pose,” I said, as if widowers getting hitched right after the funeral was an everyday thing.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns