widow cleansing

noun

A tradition that requires widowed women to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification.

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Meanings

nounwidow cleansing (uncountable)
  1. AfricauncountableA tradition that requires widowed women to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification.

    The practices of widow cleansing, as well as widow inheritance, pose a serious risk of spreading HIV/AIDS to individuals and among the wider community.

    2019 May 23, Roseline Orwa, “Kenya: education, stigma and widow cleansing”, in LSE blog
    1 more example

    A group of women in western Kenya is fighting "widow-cleansing", a traditional ritual practiced by Luo ethnic communities in some of the poorer, more rural areas of the country.

    2017 December 6, “Kenya widows fight sexual 'cleansing' practise”, in BBC News
Cite this entry
APA

widow cleansing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widow%20cleansing

MLA

“widow cleansing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widow%20cleansing. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “widow cleansing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widow%20cleansing.

Source: widow cleansing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.