dowry
Americannoun
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Also the money, goods, or estate that a wife brings to her husband at marriage.
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Archaic. a widow's dower.
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a natural gift, endowment, talent, etc.
noun
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the money or property brought by a woman to her husband at marriage
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(esp formerly) a gift made by a man to his bride or her parents
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Christianity a sum of money required on entering certain orders of nuns
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a natural talent or gift
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obsolete a widow's dower
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dowry
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English dowerie, from Anglo-French douarie, from Medieval Latin dōtārium. See dot 2, -ary
Explanation
In some cultures, the bride or her family pays a certain amount of money or property to the groom when a couple is married. This payment is called a dowry. Traditionally, a woman's family offered a dowry to potential husbands in order to make the match more attractive to the man and his family. The word dowry can actually mean "payment," but it can also refer to whatever property or savings a woman herself brings into a marriage. The Latin word dotare is the root of dowry, and it means "to endow or to portion out."
Vocabulary lists containing dowry
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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.
They allege that despite giving dowry at the time of marriage, they were constantly taunted by the Singhs that the wedding was not according to their "standards" – an accusation Giribala Singh has rejected.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
If she can collect the dowry from Charlie, she and Stanley can sail to Australia to escape the police and live happily ever after Down Under.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2025
The film also tackles the social evil that is dowry - the practice of the bride's family gifting cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom's family.
From BBC • Mar. 6, 2025
"So many of my friends have had to leave school, or never been to school because someone paid a dowry to marry them, so their fathers had married them off," she says.
From BBC • Jan. 25, 2025
A marriage with a bad dowry is automatically a bad marriage.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
