dowry
noun
dow·ry
| \ ˈdau̇(-ə)-rē
\
\
plural dowries
Definition of dowry
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 gift of money or property by a man to or for his bride
3
: a natural talent
Examples of dowry in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Green Gang trains in sparring with bamboo canes and holds men accountable—for domestic violence, harassment over dowries, beatings by in-laws—where courts and police don’t. — Fortune, "The Skyrocketing Value of Women’s Art: The Broadsheet," 2 Aug. 2019 The post said five men were participating in the auction for her dowry. — Casey Newton, The Verge, "Amazon’s HQ2 stunt could come back to haunt it," 14 Nov. 2018 On a recent Sunday afternoon, a younger cousin asked Maduk to help broker a dowry agreement between his family and his girlfriend’s family. — Deirdre Fernandes, BostonGlobe.com, "An education in hope," 7 July 2018 Brides come with huge gifts, dowries, that were once the only property that a woman could call her own. — A.a. Gill, A-LIST, "Fraught, But It Counts," 4 July 2018 In 1695, as recorded in a pamphlet with the title of The Counterfeit Bridegroom, a lady of Southwark advertised a dowry of £200 for any eligible suitor for her daughter. — Longreads, "The Roaring Girls of Queer London," 8 May 2018 Instead of our parents or clergy or nobility doing the arranging, agency is ceded to algorithms, offering our online data as dowry. — Richard Morgan, chicagotribune.com, "Facebook doesn't care if you find love — it just wants to be your ‘click-bae’," 3 May 2018 Because when you're married off, the [husbands] pay dowry. — Jessica Andrews, Teen Vogue, "ASOS Made in Kenya Collection Is the Definition of Cultural Appreciation," 18 Apr. 2018 The compensation for her father’s accident had been saved by her mother as Min’s dowry. — Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, "A Flawless Silence," 17 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dowry.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for dowry
dowry
noun
English Language Learners Definition of dowry
: money or property that a wife or wife's family gives to her husband when the wife and husband marry in some cultures
See the full definition for dowry in the English Language Learners Dictionary
dowry
noun
dow·ry
| \ ˈdau̇-rē
\
\
plural dowries
Kids Definition of dowry
: property that in some cultures a woman gives to her husband in marriage
Keep scrolling for more