Definition

1. Noun:
   • The state or condition of being a widow: This refers to the period in a woman's life after her husband has died and she has not remarried.
   • The time during which a woman is a widow: This refers to the duration of this specific life stage.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • After her husband's passing, she entered a period of deep widowhood.
  • Her long widowhood was spent in quiet reflection and community service.

Advanced Usage

• "In her widowhood": used to describe actions or characteristics during the time a woman is a widow.
  • In her widowhood, she discovered a talent for painting.
• "The trials of widowhood": refers to the difficulties associated with being a widow.
  • The book explores the emotional and financial trials of widowhood.

Variants and Related Words

• Widow (n): a woman whose spouse has died and who has not remarried.
  • She became a widow at a young age.
• Widower (n): a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried.
  • He was a widower for ten years before remarrying.
• Widowed (adj): describing someone whose spouse has died.
  • The widowed mother raised three children alone.

Synonyms

• Bereavement: the state of having lost a loved one through death (a broader term that can apply to any loss, not specifically a spouse).
• Loss of a spouse: a more descriptive phrase for the event leading to widowhood.

Related Phrases

• "Widow's weeds": (idiom, historical) the black clothing traditionally worn by a widow in mourning.
  • In the Victorian era, a woman in widowhood would wear widow's weeds for a prescribed period.

Noun

1. the state of being a widow who has not remarried
2. the time of a woman's life when she is a widow