dowagers
Aristocratic elderly widows
Dowagers is the plural of dowager, a widow who holds a title or property derived from her late husband.
The term appears most often in aristocratic contexts: a dowager duchess or dowager queen retains her rank after her husband's death.
More loosely, dowager describes any dignified elderly woman of wealth or social standing, sometimes with a hint of formidability: The dowagers of the club disapproved of the new members.
Woman of ducal rank
- countessFeminine noble rank
- baronessFemale holder of barony
- peerageSystem of noble ranks
- nobilityTitled ruling class
empress · lady · title · gentry · manor · estate · chateau · courtly
Successive family rulers
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- successionFollowing in order
- heirOne who receives legacy
- ancestryFamily line of descent
bloodline · heritage · clan · household · family · descendants · progeny · genealogy
Biological or legal survivor
- mourningPeriod following loss
- bereavementState following loss
- veilFabric that obscures
- blackDarkest possible hue
remembrance · solitude · loss · remarriage · jointure · pension · allowance · seclusion
duchess
Woman of ducal rank
nobility · empress · lady · title · gentry · manor · estate · chateau · courtly · regal
dynasty
Successive family rulers
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- successionFollowing in order
- heirOne who receives legacy
ancestry · bloodline · heritage · clan · household · family · descendants · progeny · genealogy · progenitor
relict
Biological or legal survivor
- mourningPeriod following loss
- bereavementState following loss
- veilFabric that obscures
black · remembrance · solitude · loss · remarriage · jointure · pension · allowance · seclusion · propriety
inheritance
Property received from ancestors
fortune · endowment · holdings · assets · investments · patrimony · annuity · income · dividends · portfolio
- womenmothers, women, females, gals, daughters
- historical womenCleopatra, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Marie Curie
- nobilityking, queen, prince, princess, duke
dowagersdebutantes
Women debuting socially
débutantes · ingenues · maidens · heiresses · blushing brides
- dowager queenWidowed queen retaining title
- queen dowagerDeceased king's widow
- dowager empressWidowed imperial consort
- dowager humpCurved upper spine prominence
- dowager's humpSpinal curvature causing hunched back
- empress dowagerWidow of deceased emperor