wifely
6
7.1
- adjective
- /ˈwaɪfli/
:
conyugal
- And what did Mrs. Pepys and her wifely comrades make of all of this?
- wifely duty
- wifely obedience
But I think Once Upon a time, intimacy, physical intimacy was wifely duty, at least official sex was a wifely duty.
- But I think Once Upon a time, intimacy, physical intimacy was wifely duty, at least official sex was a wifely duty.
Examples
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"You have been sadly derelict in your wifely duties."
Fiction book (1993) -
I expect the traditional wifely deference appropriate to my culture.
Blog text (14) -
Her mother died when she was three, and her father expected her to take on the wifely duties... - all of them.
-
But she was very religious, and she performed her wifely duties.
Fiction book (1998) -
A good Catholic woman should perform her wifely duties.
-
I'm just showing a little wifely interest.
-
The issues of wifely obedience and self-effacement in marriage are also pretty much alive.
Academic text (1995) -
You know she's gonna be bothering me about you, asking me, "Judith Ann, have you been doing your wifely duties?"
-
In Middlemarch, for example, Casaubon has a copious imagination for the wifely sacrifice that should continue after his death.
Academic text (1991) -
In the traditional setting, a woman is often expected to fulfill her wifely duties by taking care of the household.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Wifely comes from the old English word wife, which meant 'woman' and later 'a married woman', plus the ending -ly that means 'in the way of'. So wifely means 'in the way of a wife', which is why we use it for duties, care, or advice seen as typical for a wife.