widower

American  

[wid-oh-er] / ˈwɪd oʊ ər /

noun

1. a man who has lost his spouse by death and has not remarried.

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widower British  

/ ˈwɪdəʊə /

noun

1. a man whose wife has died and who has not remarried

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Other Word Forms

• widowered
  adjective
• widowerhood
  noun

Etymology

Origin of widower

1325–75; late Middle English ( see widow, -er ¹); replacing widow (now dial.), Old English wydewa

Explanation

If your grandmother has died, you can call your grandfather a widower, or a man whose wife is no longer living. When a man loses his wife, he becomes a widower. The equivalent name for a woman whose husband dies is a widow. In many cases, a man is only referred to as a widower if he has not remarried. Both a widow and a widower are described as being widowed. The feminine form of this word came first, from the Old English widewe. The Indo-European root means "be empty," which perfectly describes the grief that many recent widowers feel.

Example Sentences

Last November, another jury awarded the widower of one of the MAX victims $28.45 million.

From Barron's • May 23, 2026

A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

The glow has even faded from “The Golden Bachelor,” an offshoot which got off to a buzzy start in 2023 with then-72-year-old widower Gerry Turner.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026

He’s also a widower who lost his wife not to some boring disease but in a way that only a real spitfire would go, by flipping her ATV.

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2026

Then my mother said, real sarcastic, “Hoyt, y’all might as well put up a sign down at the store. Announce the widower is givin’ his new bride a racehorse for a weddin’ present.”

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns