widowhood Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the time of a woman's life when she is a widow
  2. noun the state of being a widow who has not remarried

WordNet

Wid"ow*hood noun
Definitions
  1. The state of being a widow; the time during which a woman is widow; also, rarely, the state of being a widower.
    Johnson clung to her memory during a widowhood of more than thirty years. Leslie Stephen.
  2. Estate settled on a widow. Obs. "I 'll assure her of her widowhood . . . in all my lands." Shak.

Webster 1913