Widow
![Valentine of Milan Mourning Her Husband, the Duke of Orléans, by Fleury-François Richard](/Images/godic/202502/19/Fleury-François_Richard_-_Valentine_of_Milan_Mourning_her_Husband,_the_Duke_of_Orléans3039.JPG")
![Statue of a mother at Yasukuni Shrine, dedicated to war widows who raised their children alone.](/Images/godic/202502/19/Statue_of_mother_Yasukuni_112135011_bd2aaaa5d3_o3040.jpg")
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man in that situation. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood. These terms are not applied to a person after he or she becomes divorced from their former spouse, though they may sometimes be used after the former spouse has died.