trophy wife
8
6.5
- noun
- /ˈtroʊfi waɪf/
- Offensive
:
esposa trofeo (informal, ofensivo)
- A young trophy wife marries this guy for his money.
- a new trophy wife
- a young trophy wife
Examples
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I'm not a trophy wife.
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Yeah, the mistake Charles made was that he married his trophy wife first.
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Come on, Martin, time to start looking for that trophy wife.
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Shortly after, his trophy wife appeared.
Blog text (24) -
I'm just a trophy wife.
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Becoming a trophy wife to a prince has never been high up my agenda.
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Romney is blessed not only with a trophy wife but also with trophy kids.
Blog text (27) -
This was the trophy wife—the gorgeous younger woman, the payoff for wealth and power.
Fiction book (1991) -
Martin always wanted a trophy wife to impress his friends at social gatherings.
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After winning the lottery, he quickly attracted a beautiful trophy wife who was much younger.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'trophy' is used metaphorically so a learner who knows 'trophy' (a prize) and 'wife' can infer a wife regarded as a prize or status symbol. However the fuller pragmatic sense (usually younger, attractive, objectified, of a wealthy older man) and negative connotations are culturally specific and not fully predictable from the parts, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The compound noun trophy wife compares a wife to a trophy, a prize people display to show success. So it came to mean a younger, attractive wife kept mainly as a 'status symbol' rather than as a partner.