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I always thought I was going to end up an old spinster, with my cats and fur coats.
Gemma Arterton

Meaning of "spinster" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD SPINSTER

(A person, esp a woman, whose occupation is spinning; C17: a woman still unmarried): from spin + -ster.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF SPINSTER

spinster  [ˈspɪnstə] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SPINSTER

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Spinster is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES SPINSTER MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Spinster

A spinster is an older woman who has never been married or never had children. To be a spinster, a woman has to be approaching or past the age of menopause without having ever formed a human pair bond. For instance, 40-year-old, never-married mothers are not spinsters. But a single, never-married, childless, 40-year-old woman may be considered a spinster. An 18-year-old single woman would not be considered a spinster in contemporary language. The term is synonymous with "old maid". Several dictionaries flag it as a derogatory term.

Definition of spinster in the English dictionary

The definition of spinster in the dictionary is an unmarried woman regarded as being beyond the age of marriage. Other definition of spinster is a woman who spins thread for her living.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH SPINSTER


Axminster
ˈæksˌmɪnstə
bemonster
bɪˈmɒnstə
funster
ˈfʌnstə
Kidderminster
ˈkɪdəˌmɪnstə
Leinster
ˈlɛnstə
minster
ˈmɪnstə
monster
ˈmɒnstə
muenster
ˈmʊnstə
Munster
ˈmʌnstə
penster
ˈpɛnstə
punster
ˈpʌnstə
Westminster
ˈwɛstˌmɪnstə

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SPINSTER

spinor
spinose
spinosely
spinosity
spinous
spinous process
spinout
Spinoza
Spinozism
Spinozist
spinsterdom
spinsterhood
spinsterial
spinsterian
spinsterish
spinsterly
spinstership
spintext
spinthariscope
spinto

WORDS THAT END LIKE SPINSTER

Cheshire West and Chester
City of Westminster
cluster
disaster
Easter
faster
foster
Frankenstein´s monster
Gila monster
manchester
master
minister
mister
polyester
poster
register
sister
Statute of Westminster
the green-eyed monster
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Synonyms and antonyms of spinster in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «spinster» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SPINSTER

Find out the translation of spinster to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of spinster from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «spinster» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

老处女
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

solterona
570 millions of speakers

English

spinster
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

कुँवारी
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

عَانِس
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

старая дева
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

solteirona
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

চিরকুমারী
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

vieille fille
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Spinster
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

alte Jungfer
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

独身女性
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

미혼여성
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Spinster
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

bà cô
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

கன்னி
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

स्पिनस्टर
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

kız kurusu
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

zitella
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

stara panna
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

стара діва
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

fată bătrână
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

γεροντοκόρη
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

oujongnooi
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

gammal ungmö
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

peppermø
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of spinster

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SPINSTER»

The term «spinster» is regularly used and occupies the 76.749 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
64
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «spinster» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of spinster
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «spinster».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SPINSTER» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «spinster» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «spinster» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about spinster

EXAMPLES

3 QUOTES WITH «SPINSTER»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word spinster.
1
Gemma Arterton
I always thought I was going to end up an old spinster, with my cats and fur coats.
2
Jo Beverley
When a gently born spinster has little money, her choices are few. She might receive an offer of marriage, but it's unlikely to be from a wealthy man, so she'll have a hard life trying to make ends meet for her growing family.
3
Sarah MacLean
There is perhaps no more rewarding romance heroine than she who is not expected to find love. The archetype comes in many disguises - the wallflower, the spinster, the governess, the single mom - but always with one sad claim: Love is not in her cards.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SPINSTER»

Discover the use of spinster in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to spinster and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality, 1880-1930
Sheila Jeffreys examines the activities of feminist campaigners around such issues as child abuse and prostitution and how these campaigns shaped social purity in the 1880s and 1890s.
Sheila Jeffreys, 1997
2
Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children
Traditional Mother Goose nursery rhymes are rewritten, depicting unruly students attending the school of Spinster Goose.
Lisa Wheeler, 2011
3
Spinster Tales and Womanly Possibilities
One. The. Persistent. Spinster. THIS BOOK DESCRIBES the circumstances that surrounded the puzzling life and death of an American icon.Who was she? Variously called “spinster,” “old maid,” or “bachelorette,” and once, in the 1950s, named ...
Naomi Braun Rosenthal, 2012
4
The Magnificent Spinster
The fifty-year friendship of two remarkable women, Jane and Cam, is relived as Cam, in her seventies, recalls and celebrates the personality, compassion, and fulfilling career of her recently deceased friend
May Sarton, 1985
5
The Spinster Sisters
Having a thriving cottage industry helping single women to find happiness while remaining unattached, Jodi and Jill find their partnership challenged by Jill's engagement and Jodi's complicated relationships.
Stacey Ballis, 2007
6
A Spinster's Luck: Signet Regency Romance (InterMix)
From Rhonda Woodward, a writer with “sparkle and heart,” comes a beloved Signet Regency Romance—available digitally for the first time.
Rhonda Woodward, 2012
7
Edwina Parkhurst, Spinster
Edwina Parkhurst has a guilty secret, one that she has lied, contrived, and connived to keep hidden.
Patricia Lucas White, 2004
8
The Riddle of the Shipwrecked Spinster
Are these troubles linked to old foes from the Jacobite Rebellion, or could they be the work of a mysterious bidder, intent on bringing down the value of Muse Manor and buying Piers Cranford's beloved family estate?
Patricia Veryan, 2007
9
The Spinster Book
Myrtle Reed. ffaitbful /Bai&ens to be very interesting. Ten-year engagements did not seem to be unusual, and it was not considered a social mistake if a man suddenly disappeared for four or five years, without the formality of mentioning his ...
Myrtle Reed, 1901
10
A spinster's tour in France, the states of Genoa, &c. during ...
of the Sicilies, which was the origin of extreme distress, loss of money, and of valuable lives, to his French provinces. Mention has been made of the king of France's (Charles VI.) disastrous expedition from Le Mans to pursue the assassin of ...
‎1828

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SPINSTER»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term spinster is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Spinster Sisters seek to build hotel in Santa Rosa
The owners of the popular Spinster Sisters restaurant in Santa Rosa have applied to open a small boutique hotel next door, hoping to spark more development ... «Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Jul 15»
2
'Spinster' is a must-read for young women
"Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own" (Crown 2015), Kate Bolick's adult memoir, should be read by all women, but in particular, by young adult women. «Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette, Jul 15»
3
Destigmatizing the word spinster
The word spinster has a negative connotation today. One imagines a woman with a dowager's hump, dressed in black, doing needlepoint. Miss Havisham. «Toronto Star, May 15»
4
All the Single Ladies Aren't So Privileged
Author Kate Bolick's widely discussed new memoir, Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own, epitomizes the shift. In a book-length adaptation of a 2011 essay in ... «The Nation., May 15»
5
In her new book, Kate Bolick argues why there's nothing wrong with …
To me, the spinster is self-reliant and inscrutable. We think we know what the wife is up to and what the mother is up to but the single woman is mysterious. «The Globe and Mail, May 15»
6
Review: 'Spinster' sets rules, scopes the scenario for women living …
Even the opening lines of Kate Bolick's "Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own" (Crown, $26, 336 pages), are provocative: "Whom to marry, and when it will ... «San Jose Mercury News, May 15»
7
In her new book, Spinster, Kate Bolick argues there's nothing wrong …
Spinster” could be “shorthand for holding on to that in you which is independent and self-sufficient, whether you're single or coupled … ,” she writes. “Code for ... «The Globe and Mail, May 15»
8
Letters: 'Spinster'
Readers responded on the Times Facebook page and on Twitter to Heather Havrilesky's review of “Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own,” by Kate Bolick (April ... «New York Times, Apr 15»
9
Spinster by Kate Bolick review – not really about being single at all
Kate Bolick, the author of Spinster: she 'couldn't walk down the street without ending ... In Spinster, her new book on the single life, Kate Bolick, possessed of all ... «The Guardian, Apr 15»
10
Linguistics shows that being a single guy has gotten better and …
Not until colonial America did spinster become synonymous with the British old maid, a disparagement that cruelly invokes maiden (a fertile virgin girl) to signify ... «Business Insider, Apr 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Spinster [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/spinster>. Apr 2024 ».
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