dowry

noun

dow·​ry ˈdau̇(-ə)-rē 

plural dowries

1

law : the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage

cultures in which marriage rarely occurs without dowry or bride-price

2

: a natural talent or gift

Beauty should be the dowry of every man and woman, as invariably as sensation; but it is rare.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

3

archaic, law : dower sense 1

Examples of dowry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

It was commissioned by Haseki Hürrem Sultan (the wife of Sultan Süleyman) and it’s largely believed her dowry actually helped fund the project. —Kaitlyn McInnis, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025

Men from the houses eventually adopted a parallel tradition in honor of St. Nicholas, another patron saint of many, including those looking to wed, who once purportedly paid the dowries for three unmarried sisters by secretly tossing gold into their father’s home. —Jessica Testa, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025

These were young French women, specifically of marriageable age, whose passage to the ‘New World’ was covered by King Louis XIV, dowry and trousseau promised and sometimes covered. —Rachel Elspeth Gross, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025

And dowry practices, there needs to really be a very, very, sort of a national campaign against dowry. —Foreign Affairs, 20 Dec. 2015

Word History

Etymology

Middle English dowarie, from Anglo-French, alteration of dower, douaire — more at dower

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Rhymes for dowry

• cowrie
• floury
• lourie
• maori

Kids Definition

dowry

noun

dow·​ry ˈdau̇(ə)r-ē 

plural dowries

: the property that a woman brings to her husband in marriage in some cultures