spinster

American  

[spin-ster] / ˈspɪn stər /

noun

• spinsters
  plural

1. Disparaging and Offensive. a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age of marrying.

2. Chiefly Law. a woman who has never married.

3. a woman whose occupation is spinning.

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spinster British  

/ ˈspɪnstə /

noun

1. an unmarried woman regarded as being beyond the age of marriage

2. law (in legal documents) a woman who has never married Compare feme sole

3. (formerly) a woman who spins thread for her living

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Sensitive Note

The meaning “a woman beyond the usual marriageable age” is used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting. It implies negative qualities such as being fussy or undesirable. See also old maid.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• spinsterhood
  noun
• spinsterish
  adjective
• spinsterlike
  adjective
• spinsterishly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• spinsters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of spinster

1325–75; Middle English spinnestere a woman who spins. See spin, -ster

Explanation

A spinster is an older, unmarried woman. Even if you're in awe of your Aunt Sally's glamorous, single life, your grandmother might dismiss her as a spinster. Spinster originally meant "a spinner of thread," and as that was a job typically done by unmarried women, it came to have the meaning — even in legal documents — of "single woman." Another term for spinster is the equally old-fashioned sounding old maid. Either way, it means a woman who never got married. Spinster is not a word you should call anyone: it reduces single women to one detail about their lives.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spinster spinsters

But she brushed off the barbs, saying: "I am toothy, dumpy, ugly, overweight, a spinster – what the hell."

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Regarded in her time as "a reclusive spinster that never left her house", she was determined to be free to pursue a life of artistic expression.

From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2026

“I’m a geriatric pregnant spinster who puts crystals in her bra,” Helen says in an unusual moment of self-awareness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025

Ruth Buzzi, famous for her work as handbag-wielding spinster Gladys Ormphby on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” died Thursday, her family announced Friday.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2025

It was the nasal voice of Miss Grybas, the spinster teacher from school.

From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys

The closest I have found have been eccentric spinsters and ambivalent parents, in a long line from Doris Lessing and DH Lawrence, Barbara Pym and Rachel Cusk.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2020

As her New York Times obituary put it, “She specialized in sourness, or, more politely, acerbity, which she used to her comic advantage in roles as housekeepers, spinsters, wicked stepmothers, nuns and back-talking secretaries.”

From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2019

He would like to see the two take up the approved life of spinsters.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 14, 2018

Considered spinsters back East, both Curtis and Stanley married younger men out West.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2015

How could we have guessed as we sat there—two middle-aged spinsters and an old man— that in place of memories were about to be given adventures such as we had never dreamed of?

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom