dead wife montage

noun

A montage that shows a male protagonist's female partner, in a lost idealized, intimate state, sometimes in an idyllic setting.

Meanings

noundead wife montage (plural dead wife montages)

plural dead wife montages

  1. literallyslangbroadcastingA montage that shows a male protagonist's female partner, in a lost idealized, intimate state, sometimes in an idyllic setting.
  2. attributivebroadlyhumorousslanglifestyleAn image or scene evocative of the above, generally with regard to the photogenicity of the subject, or the intimacy between the subject and perspective character.

    they gave geto that dead wife montage im cryingg

    2023 September 21, @suguruhrs, Twitter
    2 more examples

    i am so warm and affectionate and playful that i cannot help but exude dead wife montage energy. sorry if this is distressing

    2024 December 11, @latkedelrey, Twitter

    if you combine all the Viktor scenes in arcane you will essentially get a dead wife montage

    2025 September 18, @ivvv_a, Twitter

Origin

From a trope in film and television in which the deceased female partner of a grieving male protagonist appears in flashback or diegetic home movie, in happier circumstances than the protagonist now appears.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dead wife montage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20wife%20montage

MLA

“dead wife montage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20wife%20montage. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dead wife montage,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20wife%20montage.

Source: dead wife montage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.