widowed

[ wid-ohd ]

adjective

1. having lost one’s spouse to death:

   The author has created a believably deluded narrator, a popular high school senior who plays football and lives with his widowed father.

noun

1. Usually the widowed. a person or persons who have lost a spouse to death:

   How do we offer strength and support to the aging, the widowed, the displaced, and others whose lives have been disrupted?

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of widow.

Other Words From

• un·wid·owed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of widowed¹

widow ( def ) + -ed ³( def )

Example Sentences

Part thriller, part true crime investigation, the nonfiction book uses one of the most heinous unsolved crimes of the Troubles — the 1972 disappearance of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was abducted from her Belfast home by intruders assumed to be members of the Irish Republican Army — to explore the lingering trauma of political violence on survivors and perpetrators alike.

From Los Angeles Times

It was around that time that Im, who had lost his first wife to cancer, married Kim, who had also been widowed.

From Los Angeles Times

Retired BT engineer Bob was widowed during the Covid pandemic, which prompted him to start coming to the Wharfedale group.

From BBC

She credited her optimism to her mother, a “tough cookie” who found creative ways to make their finances work after she was widowed, including renting out the front of the family home.

From Los Angeles Times

My mother, widowed but loyal to the lifestyle market as if it would protect her from the alienation of child rearing, was onto something.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• only
• unattended