Wifely
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Of, befitting, pertaining to, or characteristic of a wife or wives.
"Being a domestic man, John decidedly missed the wifely attentions he had been accustomed to receive; but, as he adored his babies, he cheerfully relinquished his comfort for a time, supposing, with masculine ignorance, that peace would soon be restored."
- 1 befitting or characteristic of a wife wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Being a domestic man, John decidedly missed the wifely attentions he had been accustomed to receive; but, as he adored his babies, he cheerfully relinquished his comfort for a time, supposing, with masculine ignorance, that peace would soon be restored."
Etymology
From Middle English wifly, wyfly, from Old English wīflīc (“womanly, wifely”), from Proto-Germanic *wībalīkaz (“wifely”). Cognate with Scots wifely (“womanly, wifely”), Dutch wijflijk, wijfelijk, German weiblich (“feminine, female”). By surface analysis, wife + -ly.
Related phrases
More for "wifely"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.