Meanings
plural widows
- A person whose spouse is absent:
- uncommonAny person whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried).
Now that he is a widow, he tries to win Olivia back through the songs and the music that brought them together all those years ago, leaving Olivia torn between moving forward with Josh or falling into the arms of the man she truly loves.
2016 June 23, Traciy Reyes, “‘The Wedding March’: Hallmark Movie — June Bride Unwittingly Hires Wedding Singer Who Is Her Ex, Starring Josie Bissett, Jack Wagner”, in The Inquisitr News - broadlyhumorousin compoundsinformaloftensarcasticA woman whose husband is often away pursuing a hobby, career, etc.
My aunt is a football widow in the fall and a basketball widow in the winter and early spring.
2 more examples
I had been feeling like a bowling-alley widow, but knew he loved the game, so I suggested we join a mixed league.
1988 November 27, Emily Parry, “For a Bowling Widow, a Split Isn't Just Two Lonely Pins”, in New York TimesAnd how many betting widows do I see at the hospital, who hardly see their husbands while the betting shops are open!
2010, Theodore Dalrymple, “There’s No Damned Merit In It”, in Life at the Bottom, published 1997
- Any venomous spider of the genus Latrodectus (called "widows" because of the practice of sexual cannibalism observed among many of these species).
present singular third person widows · participle present widowing · participle past widowed · past widowed
- transitiveTo make a widow or widower of someone; to cause the death of the spouse of.
- figurativelytransitiveTo strip of anything valued.
Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now, My friend, the brother of my love. My Arthur! whom I shall not see Till all my widow’d race be run; Dear as the mother to the son, More than my brothers are to me.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC - obsoletetransitiveTo endow with a widow's right.
- obsoletetransitiveTo be widow to.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn additional hand of playing cards dealt face-down in some card games, to be used by the highest bidder.
nounA single line of type that ends a paragraph but is separated from it by being carried over to the next page or column.
woman whose spouse has died
man whose spouse has died
More synonyms by meaning
nouna woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
- Proto-Indo-European*dwi-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁weydʰh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁widʰéwh₂
- Proto-Germanic*widuwǭ
- Proto-West Germanic*widuwā
- Old Englishwiduwe
- Middle Englishwidwe
- Englishwidow
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English widwe, from Old English widuwe (“widow”), from Proto-West Germanic *widuwā (“widow”), from Proto-Germanic *widuwǭ (“widow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂ (“widow”), possibly from *h₁weydʰh₁-, *widʰ- (“to separate, split, cleave, divide”), whence also wood from Old English widu, wudu. Cognates Cognate with Scots weedae, wedow, widdow (“widow”), Cimbrian bittaba (“widow”), Dutch weduwe, weeuw (“widow”), German Witwe (“widow”), Vilamovian wytwa (“widow”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍅𐍉 (widuwō, “widow”), Old Irish fedb (“widow”), Welsh gweddw (“widow”), Asturian and Spanish viuda (“widow”), Aragonese and Latin vidua (“widow”), Catalan vídua (“widow”), French veuve (“widow”), Galician and Portuguese viúva (“widow”), Italian vedova (“widow”), Romanian văduvă (“widow”), Ancient Greek ἠΐθεος (ēḯtheos, “bachelor”), Albanian ve (“widow, widower”), Belarusian удава́ (udavá, “widow”), Czech, Slovak, and Slovene vdova (“widow”), Polish gdowa, wdowa (“widow”), Russian and Ukrainian вдова́ (vdová, “widow”), Serbo-Croatian udova, у̀дова (“widow”), Central Kurdish بێوە (bêwe, “widow”), Ossetian идӕдз (idæʒ, “widowed”), Persian بیوه (bive, bêva, “widow”), Sanskrit विधवा (vidhavā, “widow”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans weduwee
- weduweewoman whose spouse has died
Ancient Greek χήρα
- χήρα (khḗra)woman whose spouse has died
Arabic أَرْمَلَة
- أَرْمَلَة (ʔarmala)woman whose spouse has died
Basque alargun
- alargunwoman whose spouse has died
Bengali বিধবা
- বিধবা (bidhoba)woman whose spouse has died
Bulgarian сла́мена вдови́ца, че́рна вдови́ца
- сла́мена вдови́ца (slámena vdovíca)woman whose husband is often away
- че́рна вдови́ца (čérna vdovíca)spider of the genus Latrodectus
- вдови́ца (vdovíca)woman whose spouse has died
Catalan vídua
- víduawoman whose spouse has died
Chinese Cantonese 寡母婆
- 寡母婆woman whose spouse has died
Chinese Mandarin 寡婦 /寡妇
- 寡婦 /寡妇 (guǎfù)woman whose spouse has died
Czech slaměná vdova, vdova
- slaměná vdovawoman whose husband is often away
- vdovawoman whose spouse has died
Danish horeunge, enke
- horeungesingle line of type carried over to the next page
- enkewoman whose spouse has died
Dutch weduw, weduwe
- weduwperson whose spouse has died
- weduwesingle line of type carried over to the next page
- weduwewoman whose spouse has died
Esperanto gevidvo, vidvino
- gevidvoperson whose spouse has died
- vidvinowoman whose spouse has died
Estonian lesk, lesk
- leskperson whose spouse has died
- leskwoman whose spouse has died
Finnish leski, leski
- leskiperson whose spouse has died
- leskiwoman whose husband is often away
- pöytäkortitcard games: additional hand dealt face down
- leskirivisingle line of type carried over to the next page
- Latrodectusspider of the genus Latrodectus
- mustaleskispider of the genus Latrodectus
- leskiwoman whose spouse has died
French chien, veuve
- chiencard games: additional hand dealt face down
- veuvewoman whose spouse has died
German Hurenkind, Witwe
- Hurenkindsingle line of type carried over to the next page
- Witwewoman whose spouse has died
Greek χήρα
- χήρα (chíra)woman whose spouse has died
Hebrew אַלְמָנָה, אִלְמֵן
- אַלְמָנָה (almaná)woman whose spouse has died
- אִלְמֵן (ilmén)to make a widow or widower
Hindi विधुर, विधवा
- विधुर (vidhur)person whose spouse has died
- विधवा (vidhvā)person whose spouse has died
- विधवा (vidhvā)woman whose spouse has died
- बेवा (bevā)woman whose spouse has died
Hungarian özvegy, özvegysor
- özvegyperson whose spouse has died
- özvegysorsingle line of type carried over to the next page
- özvegywoman whose spouse has died
- özvegyasszonywoman whose spouse has died
Icelandic ekkja
- ekkjawoman whose spouse has died
Indonesian janda
- jandawoman whose spouse has died
Irish ciste, baintreach
- cistecard games: additional hand dealt face down
- baintreachwoman whose spouse has died
Italian vedova, vedovare
- vedovawoman whose spouse has died
- vedovareto make a widow or widower
Japanese 孤立行, ウィドー
- 孤立行 (koritsugyō)single line of type carried over to the next page
- ウィドー (widō)single line of type carried over to the next page
- 寡婦 (yamome)woman whose spouse has died
- 未亡人 (mibōjin)woman whose spouse has died
- 後家 (goke)woman whose spouse has died
- 空き家 (akiya)woman whose spouse has died
Korean 홀어미, 과부
- 홀어미 (horeomi)woman whose spouse has died
- 과부 (gwabu)woman whose spouse has died
Latin vidua
- viduawoman whose spouse has died
Latvian atraitne
- atraitnewoman whose spouse has died
Lithuanian našlė
- našlėwoman whose spouse has died
Malay janda, balu
- jandawoman whose spouse has died
- baluwoman whose spouse has died
Māori pouaru, takahore
- pouaruwoman whose spouse has died
- takahorewoman whose spouse has died
- whakapouaruto make a widow or widower
Norwegian Bokmål enke
- enkewoman whose spouse has died
Polish musik, bękart
- musikcard games: additional hand dealt face down
- bękartsingle line of type carried over to the next page
- wdowasingle line of type carried over to the next page
- wdowawoman whose spouse has died
Portuguese viúvo, viúva
- viúvoperson whose spouse has died
- viúvasingle line of type carried over to the next page
- viúva negraspider of the genus Latrodectus
- viúvawoman whose spouse has died
Punjabi ਵਿਧਵਾ
- ਵਿਧਵਾ (vidhvā)woman whose spouse has died
Romanian văduvă
- văduvăwoman whose spouse has died
Russian соло́менная вдова́, вися́чая строка́
- соло́менная вдова́ (solómennaja vdová)woman whose husband is often away
- вися́чая строка́ (visjáčaja stroká)single line of type carried over to the next page
- чёрная вдова́ (čórnaja vdová)spider of the genus Latrodectus
- вдова́ (vdová)woman whose spouse has died
- вдови́ца (vdovíca)woman whose spouse has died
Scottish Gaelic banntrach, bantrach
- banntrachperson whose spouse has died
- bantrachperson whose spouse has died
- banntrachwoman whose spouse has died
Slovak slamená vdova, vdova
- slamená vdovawoman whose husband is often away
- vdovawoman whose spouse has died
Spanish viuda, enviudar
- viudawoman whose spouse has died
- enviudarto make a widow or widower
Swahili mjane, mjane
- mjaneperson whose spouse has died
- mjanewoman whose husband is often away
- mjanesingle line of type carried over to the next page
- mjanewoman whose spouse has died
Swedish gräsänka, änka
- gräsänkawoman whose husband is often away
- änkawoman whose spouse has died
Tamil விதவை
- விதவை (vitavai)woman whose spouse has died
Thai แม่ม่าย, แม่หม้าย
- แม่ม่าย (mɛ̂ɛ-mâai)woman whose spouse has died
- แม่หม้าย (mɛ̂ɛ-mâai)woman whose spouse has died
- ม่าย (mâai)woman whose spouse has died
- หม้าย (mâai)woman whose spouse has died
Turkish dul, dul
- dulperson whose spouse has died
- dulwoman whose spouse has died
- dul bırakmakto make a widow or widower
Ukrainian вдова́, удова́
- вдова́ (vdová)woman whose spouse has died
- удова́ (udová)woman whose spouse has died
- вдови́ця (vdovýcja)woman whose spouse has died
- удови́ця (udovýcja)woman whose spouse has died
Urdu بیوَہ, وِیڈو
- بیوَہ (beva)woman whose spouse has died
- وِیڈو (vīḍo)woman whose spouse has died
- وِدْھوا (vidhvā)woman whose spouse has died
Vietnamese quả phụ, goá
- quả phụwoman whose spouse has died
- goáwoman whose spouse has died
Welsh gweddw
- gweddwwoman whose spouse has died
Yiddish אַלמנה, אַלמאָנע
- אַלמנה (almone)woman whose spouse has died
- אַלמאָנע (almone)woman whose spouse has died
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with widow
All rhymes →Cite this entry
widow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widow
“widow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widow. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “widow,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widow.
Source: widow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.