dowerless

1 9.9

A woman who has no money or property to bring to marriage

adjective
/ˈdaʊərləs/

Archaic

: sin dote

She felt nervous about marrying a man who had never met her, especially since she was dowerless.

Examples

But if you were free today, would you choose a dowerless girl?

A Christmas Carol (2009)
In either case, my younger daughter, the child of my second marriage, is dowerless, dependent on the generosity of her sister.

Fiction book (1993)
The local community sought to support dowerless brides in finding suitable husbands.
As a dowerless woman, she worried about her prospects for marriage in a society that values dowries.

Antonyms

dowered

Archaic

9.9

Having money or property given at marriage

Surface Forms

dowerless positive

Morphology

dowerless = dower (semi-transparent) = dower + less

The formation is straightforward (dower + -less), but 'dower' is archaic/rare and may be confused with 'dowry', so the meaning is not fully transparent to average learners.

Etymology

Dowerless comes from dower, the same root as the common word dowry, which meant a 'gift' or money a woman brought to marriage, and the ending -less means 'without'. So, dowerless literally means 'without a dowry', which is why it describes a woman who has no dowry to bring to marriage.