widowhood
pronunciation
How to pronounce widowhood in British English:
UK [ˈwɪdəʊhʊd]
How to pronounce widowhood in American English:
US [ˈwɪdoʊhʊd]
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- Noun:
- the time of a woman's life when she is a widow
- the state of being a widow who has not remarried
Word Origin
- widowhood (n.)
- c. 1200, from widow (n.) + -hood. Modifying or replacing Old English wuduwanhad "state of a woman who has no husband."
Example
- 1. Her mother was living in deep retirement , wallowing in widowhood .
- 2. A spouse dies , then soon , another : the widowhood effect
- 3. Her widowhood condemns her to a lonely old age .
- 4. That didn 't mean that they didn 't still miss their spouses , but that they had returned to somewhat normal functioning , contradicting the popular maxim of widowhood that " the second year is harder than the first . "
- 5. Findings on the widowhood effect don 't come as news to medical professionals , who have observed similar patterns of increased mortality .