Library / English Dictionary

WIFE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: wives   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A married woman; a man's partner in marriage

Synonyms:

married woman; wife

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("wife" is a kind of...):

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

better half; married person; mate; partner; spouse (a person's partner in marriage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wife"):

viscountess (a wife or widow of a viscount)

vicereine (wife of a viceroy)

ux.; uxor ((legal terminology) the Latin word for wife)

trophy wife (a wife who is an attractive young woman; seldom the first wife of an affluent older man)

signora (an Italian title of address equivalent to Mrs. when used before a name)

sheika; sheikha (the wife of a sheik)

old lady (your own wife)

missis; missus (informal term of address for someone's wife)

mayoress (the wife of a mayor)

matron (a married woman (usually middle-aged with children) who is staid and dignified)

marchioness (the wife or widow of a marquis)

homemaker; housewife; lady of the house; woman of the house (a wife who manages a household while her husband earns the family income)

honest woman (a wife who has married a man with whom she has been living for some time (especially if she is pregnant at the time))

golf widow (a wife who is left alone much of the time because her husband is playing golf)

first lady (the wife of a chief executive)

crown princess (the wife of a crown prince)

battle-ax; battle-axe (a sharp-tongued domineering wife)

Instance hyponyms:

Bathsheba ((Old Testament) the wife of Uriah and later the wife of king David; Solomon was her son by David (circa 10th century BC))

Catherine; Catherine of Aragon (first wife of Henry VIII; Henry VIII's divorce from her was the initial step of the Reformation in England (1485-1536))

Anne Hathaway; Hathaway (wife of William Shakespeare (1556-1623))

Rachel ((Old Testament) the second wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin)

Rebecca; Rebekah ((Old Testament) wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau)

Ruth (the great-grandmother of king David whose story is told in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament)

Sarah ((Old Testament) the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac)

Antonym:

husband (a married man; a woman's partner in marriage)

Derivation:

wifely (befitting or characteristic of a wife)

Credits

 Context examples: 

And very sure I am that my own sweet wife would have said the same.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I would not leave my wife alone all night for anything.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Finally, having improved much in health, he and his wife had returned to London, and Lady Frances had started thither in their company.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Arthur was saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married and that she was his wife in the sight of God.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Sir Thomas felt as an anxious father must feel, and was indeed experiencing much of the agitation which his wife had been apprehensive of for herself, but had fortunately escaped.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

My wife should have the credit of them, however.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

My wife and my sister will never recover from their horror.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

John Dashwood had not much to say for himself that was worth hearing, and his wife had still less.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Sallie isn't a poor man's wife, and many maids are in keeping with her fine establishment.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was thought he cared a great deal for his wife.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)