spinsters
Never-married older women
Spinsters is the plural of spinster, a woman who has never married.
The term originally referred to women who spun thread—an occupation for unmarried women.
It carries old-fashioned and often pejorative connotations, suggesting someone past the typical age of marriage: The village gossips called them spinsters, though neither woman had any interest in husbands.
The male equivalent, bachelor, lacks the negative undertones.
Unmarried woman
- maidenUnmarried young woman
- single womanUnmarried female adult
- old maidUnmarried woman, advanced years
- unwedNot hitched
celibate · unmarried woman · solitary · independent · unattached · husbandless · confirmed bachelor · singleton
Titled widow of nobility
- gentlewomanWoman of high birth
- maiden auntParent's unmarried sister
- chaperoneProtective adult companion
- governessPrivate household teacher
housekeeper · companion · Victorian · Edwardian · propriety · modesty · respectability · parlor
Freedom from external control
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- choiceAct of selecting
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- career womanFemale dedicated to profession
liberation · suffragette · emancipation · nonconformist · childfree · self-reliant · trailblazer · unconventional
bachelorette
Unmarried woman
- maidenUnmarried young woman
- single womanUnmarried female adult
- old maidUnmarried woman, advanced years
unwed · celibate · unmarried woman · solitary · independent · unattached · husbandless · confirmed bachelor · singleton · never-married
dowager
Titled widow of nobility
- gentlewomanWoman of high birth
- maiden auntParent's unmarried sister
- chaperoneProtective adult companion
governess · housekeeper · companion · Victorian · Edwardian · propriety · modesty · respectability · parlor · needlework
independence
Freedom from external control
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- choiceAct of selecting
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
career woman · liberation · suffragette · emancipation · nonconformist · childfree · self-reliant · trailblazer · unconventional · defiant
weaver
Thread-interlacing craftsperson
distaff · yarn · fiber · loom · cotton · cloth · bobbin · twisting · winding · hemp
- womenmothers, women, females, gals, daughters
- Edwardian BritainEdward VII, Queen Victoria, country houses, manor houses, servants
- familymother, father, parents, siblings, parent
- high societygossip, socialites, socialite, aristocrats, aristocrat
- outcastsoutcast, pariah, pariahs, outcasts, outlaws
- Colonial WomenAbigail Adams, Martha Washington, Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher, goodwives