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

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

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

It was only 18 months ago that Padres fans wondered whether the good times might come to an end, with the widow of beloved owner Peter Seidler suing his brothers for control of the team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

The loss of the assets is a remarkable twist for the heirs of Oswaldo Cisneros, who died in 2020 and whose businesses are now overseen by his widow and children.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Her mother is an 83-year-old churchgoing widow who walks with a cane.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Last week, PC Harper's widow, Lissie Harper, said she "will not give up" and hoped people would share a petition calling for his killers to be denied early release from prison.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Monday night’s camp was on the property of Mrs. Rosie Steele, a seventy-eight-year-old widow.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

The annual event was initiated in 2012 by the then-governor when 100 couples - primarily widows and divorcees - wed at the palace.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 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

The scandal is especially egregious because widows and widowers are disproportionately among the poorest elders.

From MarketWatch ● May 1, 2026

Changes in tax policy in intervening years allowed widows and widowers to access their spouses’ unused exemptions and now the more generous exemptions make it worth revisiting these trusts.

From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026

A sweet-natured man, Father Mike was popular with church widows.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Mercury, a large Los Angeles-based insurer, charged the highest differential, though it offered lower rates to widowed motorists with 34 or more years of driving experience.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Ann Lush, 86, was raised alongside her brother by her grandmother, who was widowed during World War Two, and said her childhood inspired her lifelong commitment to helping young people.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

I know a recently widowed 85-year-old who liked living in a gated community in South Florida for residents 55 and up.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026

Most were disabled or chronically ill; unemployed or retired; widowed; or living alone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

Mr. Underhill was a wealthy insurance executive who had first experimented with Spiritualism when he’d been widowed a few years back.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

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

The days that followed the widowing rites passed strangely for Dorama.

From The Outcaste by F. E. Penny

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