widowed
Americanadjective
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of widowed
Explanation
If you know someone whose husband or wife has died, you can describe that person as widowed. The widowed lady next door may have lost her husband many years ago. A man whose spouse has died is typically called a widower, while a woman is a widow. Both men and women can be described with the adjective widowed if their partners are no longer alive. These words come from a root that's shared by the Sanskrit vidhuh, which means "lonely or solitary," and the Latin viduus, "bereft or void."
Vocabulary lists containing widowed
Lyrics from "American Pie" by Don McLean
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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.
She is 79, widowed and financially comfortable, with about $900,000 in savings and investments, a paid-off house worth around $600,000, Social Security and a small pension.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
In short, the widowed taxpayer often faces a double whammy: Income often falls while tax rates increase.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Cecily Craig, 71, lives a short walk away from her centenarian widowed mother at Park Pointe Village in Rock Hill, S.C., each in their own apartment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Single, divorced and widowed drivers got quotes in April 2025 that were up to $108 higher for six months of premiums from four out of five California carriers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Nobody seemed to register that he was from Hawaii, that he’d been visiting his widowed grandmother, or that his daughter had fallen ill.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
