widow

American  

[wid-oh] / ˈwɪd oʊ /

noun

• widows
  plural

1. a woman who has lost her spouse by death and has not remarried.

2. Cards. an additional hand or part of a hand, as one dealt to the table.

3. Printing.

   1. a short last line of a paragraph, especially one less than half of the full measure or one consisting of only a single word.

   2. the last line of a paragraph when it is carried over to the top of the following page away from the rest of the paragraph.

4. a woman often left alone because her husband devotes his free time to a hobby or sport (used in combination).

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verb (used with object)

widowed, widowing

1. to make (someone) a widow.

   She was widowed by the war.

2. to deprive of anything cherished or needed.

   A surprise attack widowed the army of its supplies.

3. Obsolete.

   1. to endow with a widow's right.

   2. to survive as the widow of.

widow British  

/ ˈwɪdəʊ /

noun

1. a woman who has survived her husband, esp one who has not remarried

2. informal (usually with a modifier) a woman whose husband frequently leaves her alone while he indulges in a sport, etc

   a golf widow

3. printing a short line at the end of a paragraph, esp one that occurs as the top line of a page or column Compare orphan

4. (in some card games) an additional hand or set of cards exposed on the table

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verb

1. to cause to become a widow or a widower

2. to deprive of something valued or desirable

widow Idioms  

1. see grass widow.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• widowhood
  noun
• widowly
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• widows
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of widow

First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English wid(e)we, Old English widuwe, wydewe; cognate with German Witwe, Gothic widuwo, Latin vidua (feminine of viduus “bereaved”), Sanskrit vidhavā “widow”; (verb) Middle English, derivative of the noun

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Explanation

A widow is a woman whose husband has died. If your uncle dies, your aunt will become a widow. If a person's spouse dies, that person is referred to as either a widow or — in the case of a man whose wife dies — a widower. In most cases, people stop using the word widow if the woman marries again. Back in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was common to use widow as a prefix to a woman's name, instead of "Mrs." The Indo-European root word of widow means "be empty."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

widow widows widowed widowing

And poet Countee Cullen’s widow Ida Mae makes sure her husband’s name and accomplishments are on everyone’s mind.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Don’t miss: I’m a 68-year-old widow and give money to my two adult children.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

Weimar in the early 1920s was a bohemia where a young Marlene Dietrich, studying violin in the city, could meet Alma Mahler, the widow of Gustav and former wife of Gropius.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

His widow Yvonne Akinyi described how the killing upended their family, saying their children were now orphans.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

In any story the two hardest things to be are a widow or an orphan.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

In India, emphasizing someone’s status as a widow in a negative way is considered insulting since widows have traditionally been ostracized and seen as carrying bad luck.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

Only a small number of exemptions would apply, including the war widows pension and Armed Forces compensation.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Ambrositsch, for example, is proud that her heuriger brings together "19-year-old hipsters and 91-year-old widows" at the same table.

From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026

In many cases, those women were widows appointed by governors or chosen by voters to take over their deceased husbands’ seats.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

I owe it to their widows, to their orphans, to their mothers, and to their fathers who have grieved and wept for them.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

According to AARP, financial experts know that retirees like yourself, especially if they’re single or widowed, like a free meal, and they are catnip for presentations on annuities and other products.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

I am widowed and have no intention of remarrying.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

The future queen was brought up under strict rules and the constant surveillance maintained by her widowed mother’s adviser, John Conroy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

At the funeral, alongside Prince William, will be the widowed Queen Sonja, members of the Norwegian royal family including new King Haakon VIII, and other European royals.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Lord Bolton led him toward the keep, where the banners were those of the late Lord Dustin and his widowed wife.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

In 2015 she became a symbol of heartbreaking grief when Goldberg died while working out on vacation, widowing her with two children as she continued to help run one of the world’s best-known companies.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2022

Compared with other singletons, people who were single as a result of divorce or widowing had a three times and six times greater risk, respectively.

From Time Magazine Archive

He kept continually in his hand a polished, oval, white carnelian, the gift of his widowing love, and at times it seemed his only consolation, the only thing left him in this world clearly tangible.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 66, April, 1863 by Various

And now he learnt that not only had she thwarted his schemes against Monmouth, but had deprived him of the ardently sought felicity of widowing her.

From Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini

Sooba was gratified by the performance of the widowing ceremonies; he felt to a certain degree revenged upon his unfortunate nephew.

From The Outcaste by F. E. Penny

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