widow
verb/ˈwɪdəʊ/
/ˈwɪdəʊ/
be widowed
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they widow | /ˈwɪdəʊ/ /ˈwɪdəʊ/ |
| he / she / it widows | /ˈwɪdəʊz/ /ˈwɪdəʊz/ |
| past simple widowed | /ˈwɪdəʊd/ /ˈwɪdəʊd/ |
| past participle widowed | /ˈwɪdəʊd/ /ˈwɪdəʊd/ |
| -ing form widowing | /ˈwɪdəʊɪŋ/ /ˈwɪdəʊɪŋ/ |
- if somebody is widowed, their husband or wife has died
- She was widowed when she was 35.
Word OriginOld English widewe, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘be empty’; compare with Sanskrit vidh ‘be destitute’, Latin viduus ‘bereft, widowed’, and Greek ēitheos ‘unmarried man’.Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
widow