widow

/ˈwɪdoʊ/

/ˈwɪdəʊ/

Other forms: widows; widowed; widowing

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."

Definitions of widow

1. noun

   a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
   synonyms: widow woman

   types:

   dowager

   a widow holding property received from her deceased husband

   war widow

   a woman whose husband has died in war

   type of:

   adult female, woman

   an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
2. verb

   cause to be without a spouse
   type of:

   leave, leave behind

   be survived by after one's death