dowry
Americannoun
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dowries
plural
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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.
See Examples For:
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 islands were gifted to Scotland, along with Shetland, by King Christian I of Denmark and Norway in 1472 as security for a wedding dowry.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2025
Parents of girls are known to take out huge loans or even sell their land and house to meet dowry demands.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
His wife, he alleged, had filed "false court cases", accusing him of cruelty, dowry harassment and various other wrongdoings.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2024
They were among thirty enslaved people given to the couple as part of Polly’s dowry.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
But instead of navigating society balls and dowries, Pickett's modern Emma is poking her nose into her friends' online dating profiles, having returned home after failing her exams at Oxford University.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025
The grooms in Malaysia forfeit dowries and often send money to the brides’ parents.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
Officially, dowries are illegal now, and daughters are supposed to inherit alongside sons.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
Women retained the ownership of their dowries at marriage, could initiate divorce, and controlled their own inheritances.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
The teacher’s husband’s sisters waiting for their dowries.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
