a married woman, especially when considered in relation to her partner in marriage.
a woman (archaic or dial., except in idioms).
old wives' tale.
a man's partner in marriage; a married woman
an archaic or dialect word for woman
to marry (a woman)
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.
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.
before 900; Middle English, Old English wīf woman; cognate with Dutch wijf, German Weib, Old Norse vīf
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A 34-year-old man with incurable brain cancer says he "might not be here" if his wife had not listened to her gut and "dragged" him to see a doctor.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
He is lamenting the death of his wife, Seleuce, who is not actually dead but also on Cyprus, pretending to be a shepherdess and looking for him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
As he approached, Trujillo accidentally kicked over a glass of water on the marble floor, but Franco and his wife didn’t stir.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
As soon as he woke up after surgery, the first thing he did was ask his wife to get him a KFC.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Moments later, a freckled white woman with dirty blonde hair appears behind her wife.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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
But the judge threw out her case, saying Queen kaMayisela had a "turnaround" in attitude as she had already agreed that her husband could take other wives.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
That legacy helps explain why in a male-dominated sport, men direct their hopes upward and outward—to mothers, wives, grandmothers and the Virgin herself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
He has worked with older male caregivers who are overwhelmed by taking care of their wives, but won’t accept help from their families or allow for paid care.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
Though strictly a fathers club, the group, Nieves said, has grown thanks to wives and partners sharing his social media posts with their husbands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
They also talked to cabinet members, their wives, and the Garfields' friends.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
"I'm sore offended in the lad I'm wifed to."
From Blind Man's Lantern by Schelling, George Luther
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.
