spouse
a marriage partner
TRANSLATION
spouse = der Ehepartner --- GOOGLE INDEX spouse: approximately 36,600,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
As a starting point, if you or your SPOUSE aren't working - or pay tax at a lower rate - you could consider transferring investments to make sure that between you, you make full use of personal allowances…
(BBC News)
---
The secret to a happy marriage is to tell your SPOUSE everything, but the essentials.
- author Cynthia Nelms
(BBC News)
---
The secret to a happy marriage is to tell your SPOUSE everything, but the essentials.
- author Cynthia Nelms
Did you
know?
spouse
noun
- a marriage partner; a husband or wife
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Spouse is from the Latin "sponsus/sponsa" (bridegroom/bride), from the masculine and female past participle of "spondere," meaning to bind oneself, promise solemnly.
Although a bit old-fashioned, one still occasionally hears or reads the phrase, "Behind every successful man lies a woman." The American comedy actor Groucho Marx put it this way, "Behind every successful man lies a woman, behind her is his wife."
In a politically-correct world, spouse has become a common way to describe a marriage partner. It's also useful in a bureaucratic sense. When explaining something regarding a marriage partner, it's much easier to say something like, "Please ensure that your spouse signs the bottom of the document." That way the awkward use of "husband/wife" can be avoided.
Spouses have played important roles throughout history. King Henry VIII had six of them, two of which he had executed because they didn't deliver an heir to the throne. Henry's divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, led the king to split with the Catholic Church and found his own church, the Church of England.
---
SYNONYMS
consort, mate, partner, husband/wife, better-half, companion, significant other
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Spouses are welcome at the next annual convention."
noun
- a marriage partner; a husband or wife
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Spouse is from the Latin "sponsus/sponsa" (bridegroom/bride), from the masculine and female past participle of "spondere," meaning to bind oneself, promise solemnly.
Although a bit old-fashioned, one still occasionally hears or reads the phrase, "Behind every successful man lies a woman." The American comedy actor Groucho Marx put it this way, "Behind every successful man lies a woman, behind her is his wife."
In a politically-correct world, spouse has become a common way to describe a marriage partner. It's also useful in a bureaucratic sense. When explaining something regarding a marriage partner, it's much easier to say something like, "Please ensure that your spouse signs the bottom of the document." That way the awkward use of "husband/wife" can be avoided.
Spouses have played important roles throughout history. King Henry VIII had six of them, two of which he had executed because they didn't deliver an heir to the throne. Henry's divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, led the king to split with the Catholic Church and found his own church, the Church of England.
---
SYNONYMS
consort, mate, partner, husband/wife, better-half, companion, significant other
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Spouses are welcome at the next annual convention."
