A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man in that situation. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood. These terms are not applied to a person after he or she becomes divorced from their former spouse, though they may sometimes be used after the former spouse has died.This term "widowhood" can be used for either sex, at least according to some dictionaries, but the word widowerhood is also listed in some dictionaries.