spinster

[ spin-ster ]

noun

1. Disparaging and Offensive. a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age of marrying.
2. Chiefly Law. a woman who has never married.
3. a woman whose occupation is spinning.

spinster

/ ˈspɪnstə /

noun

1. an unmarried woman regarded as being beyond the age of marriage
2. law (in legal documents) a woman who has never married Compare feme sole
3. (formerly) a woman who spins thread for her living

Sensitive Note

The meaning “a woman beyond the usual marriageable age” is used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting. It implies negative qualities such as being fussy or undesirable. old maid.

Derived Forms

• ˈspinsterish, adjective
• ˈspinsterˌhood, noun

Other Words From

• spinster·hood noun
• spinster·ish adjective
• spinster·ish·ly adverb
• spinster·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of spinster¹

1325–75; Middle English spinnestere a woman who spins. See spin, -ster

Word History and Origins

Origin of spinster¹

C14 (in the sense: a person, esp a woman, whose occupation is spinning; C17: a woman still unmarried): from spin + -ster

Example Sentences

The author is looking for a job and taking allergy shots so that she can one day become a spinster with two cats.

From Los Angeles Times

“What I saw with the first show was that the people that came did not fit the model of the hoarder, spinster, crazy cat lady,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

“The secretary of agriculture responded to ‘Silent Spring’ by asking ‘why a spinster with no children was so concerned about genetics,’” Shapland writes.

From Los Angeles Times

"Look at me," she declares to her spinster daughters in one scene.

From Salon

Miss Havisham, a wealthy spinster who is raising Estella as she conspires to meddle in Pip’s life, famously wears a wedding dress she hasn’t taken off since being left at the altar years before.

From Los Angeles Times