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bride

Definition of Bride

(noun) A woman about to be married or who is recently married.

Examples of Bride

Bride Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: bride

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /brIEd/
  • British English – /brIEd/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /braɪd/
  • British English – /brʌɪd/

Usage Notes

  • Plural: brides
  • A woman about to be married is the bride-to-be.
  • A bride married to someone in the military during wartime is called a war bride.
  • A gender-neutral term for bride or groom is partner.
  • In contrast, a recently married or soon to be married man is called a groom or bridegroom.

Additional Information

Related Terms


Works Consulted

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).

Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).

Cite the Definition of Bride

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “bride.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved March 29, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/bride/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

bride. (2015). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/bride/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “bride.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/bride/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“bride.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/bride/>.