spinster

[spin-ster]

noun

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.

spinster

/ 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

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of spinster¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of spinster¹

C14 (in the sense: a person, esp a woman, whose occupation is spinning; C17: a woman still unmarried): from _spin + _-ster

Example Sentences

There have been various failed efforts, both from the White House spinsters and pundits, to sane-wash Trump's choice to torch the U.S. economy as some kind of "strategy."

From Salon

Unable to deny the economic ruin Trump is inflicting on the nation, the Fox News spinsters have moved to reframing financial privation as a good thing, because it will supposedly restore Americans' lost masculinity.

From Salon

"She's described in the record as a spinster," said Prof English.

From BBC

The author is looking for a job and taking allergy shots so that she can one day become a spinster with two cats.

From Los Angeles Times

“What I saw with the first show was that the people that came did not fit the model of the hoarder, spinster, crazy cat lady,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times