dowager

CEFRC2

/ˈdaʊədʒə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A widow who holds a title from her dead husband.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Any lady of dignified bearing, especially an older one.

Examples

  • Empress Dowager Cixi held control in China for forty-seven years.

  • She was politely described as a redoubtable dowager.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The widow of the holder of a title (usually a member of the peerage or a baronet); used in combination with the title she held during her husband's lifetime.

  2. A widow holding property or title derived from her late husband.

More examples

In context

  • A reclusive dowager owned the pastures across the river, and her farmhands ran beef cattle on them.

  • Sir George Sitwell, Bt. and Lady Sitwell, and Sir George's mother, the dowager Lady Sitwell

  • the Earl and Countess of Whiteacre, and the Earl's mother, the dowager Countess of Whiteacre

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank donated her estate to the museum after her husband's death.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle French douagere, douagiere, from douage (“dower”), from the verb douer (“to endow”), from Latin dōtō (“to endow”), from dōs (“dowry”).