trophy wife
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of trophy wife
An Americanism dating back to 1985–90
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.
Demi Moore co-stars as a late oil baron’s trophy wife who’s trying to initiate a hostile takeover, and Sam Elliott joins the cast as the father of Thornton’s character.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
For Fahy, plotting life after “The Bold Type,” which ended in 2021, included auditioning for the role of a wealthy but unhappy trophy wife in the first season of “The White Lotus.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025
Since we’re child-free and I already finished college, I suppose you could call me a trophy wife, but firstly, I’m nonbinary, and secondly, that’s the rub.
From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2022
As in, she was just emblematic of all first wives everywhere who did everything for their husbands and then got dumped for a trophy wife.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2019
Even Mr. Gilmore, who is in a relationship with a man 23 years his junior, has sympathy for the woman who’s been dumped by her husband for a trophy wife.
From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2016
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
