A Man is Not a Widow (Widow vs. Widower)

A Man is Not a Widow (Widow vs. Widower) A Man is Not a Widow (Widow vs. Widower) A Man is Not a Widow (Widow vs. Widower) By Maeve Maddox Last night, not for the first time, I heard someone refer to a man as a widow. Not only did I hear this usage, I saw it headlined across a Powerpoint slide at the presentation I was attending. In English a widow is a woman whose husband has died. A man whose wife has died is a widower. As widow is feminine in meaning, the regional expression widow woman is a tautology. That is, it says the same thing twice. Another tautology inscribed on a subsequent slide at this same meeting was the 100th Year Centennial. A centennial is the observance of a 100 year anniversary. Ex. The city council announced that the town would observe the centennial of its founding. TIP: As I urged in one of my very first articles for DWT, Let the Word Do the Work! Here are some examples of the redundant widow woman usage around the web: I am 28 year old man.I am attracted by a widow woman who is interested to talk with me deeply. What can I do? Quora.com I read in the paper that Jesse James held up a train and when he found out a widow woman who was on the train didnt have any money to give him Book In 2017 a movie titled The Widow Man was released, probably increasing the confusion on peoples minds. The careful writer will observe the distinction and avoid the redundancy when using widow and widower. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:15 Terms for Those Who Tell the Future55 Boxing Idioms5 Ways to Reduce Use of Prepositions