spousal
adjective
Simple meaning
Related to a person's partner in marriage.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
spowzuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspaʊzəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or relating to a spouse, spouses; to the relationship between spouses
“A fitting symbol of spousal love.”
Of or relating to a wedding
Of or relating to marriage
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to a spouse, spouses; to the relationship between spouses
Used this way, spousal is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
“A fitting symbol of spousal love.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use spousal
- “A fitting symbol of spousal love.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A person (not necessarily a spouse) with whom you cohabit and share a long-term sexual relationship.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.