Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Excessively submissive or devoted to one's wife.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Excessively or foolishly fond of a wife; doting on a wife.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Excessively fond of, or submissive to, a wife; being a dependent husband.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Overly devoted or submissive to one's wife.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective foolishly fond of or submissive to your wife

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin uxōrius, from uxor, wife.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin uxorius "of or pertaining to a wife" from uxor "wife"

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Examples

  • A few people suggested that the existing word uxorious would fill the bill.

    Word Fugitives 2007

  • A few people suggested that the existing word uxorious would fill the bill.

    Word Fugitives 2007

  • Map had asserted his authorship and stated that he had written the dissertation "changing only our names," assuming for himself the name of Valerius "me qui Walterus sum," and calling his uxorious friend Rufinus because he was red-haired.

    A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance Jean Jules Jusserand

  • C. Aaron Browbowski Jr.: sorry about that obnioxus show people, i'm wired on hot coffee mogbert: beemoh, I try and avoid articles with the word "uxorious" in them: - P C. Aaron Browbowski Jr.: no it's JESUS JACK JONES THOMPSON!!!!

    GamePolitics News 2009

  • The movie is filled with uxorious clichés from the 1950s, with manly men fighting over big oil and Taylor, at home on the ranch, schooling her husband Rock Hudson on his moral shortcomings, most notably his lack of what we would now call multicultural sensitivity.

    Women's Liz Clare McHugh 2012

  • In unfolding his plot as if it were a carpet allowed too long to mildew in a cellar, Ibsen presents a picture so misogynistic it makes that other Scandinavian curmudgeon August Strindberg seem positively uxorious.

    David Finkle: First Nighter: Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman Unleashes Acting Blizzard David Finkle 2011

  • In unfolding his plot as if it were a carpet allowed too long to mildew in a cellar, Ibsen presents a picture so misogynistic it makes that other Scandinavian curmudgeon August Strindberg seem positively uxorious.

    David Finkle: First Nighter: Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman Unleashes Acting Blizzard David Finkle 2011

  • First, my love," said Mr Darcy, who had become increasingly uxorious over time, "it behoves us to run through the back story for those who are not up to speed with the original.

    Digested read: Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James 2011

  • The uxorious Obama had more important things to do--attend a Christmas party or Michelle might get mad at him.

    Jacob Heilbrunn: God Bless Bernie Sanders Jacob Heilbrunn 2010

  • The uxorious Obama had more important things to do--attend a Christmas party or Michelle might get mad at him.

    Jacob Heilbrunn: God Bless Bernie Sanders Jacob Heilbrunn 2010

Comments

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  • Hmmmm, I just heard this word for the first time yesterday - got it on my Word-A-Day email from one of those sites.

    Is there maybe a word to describe the male gender, the husband, as well? That was what I wondered when I read it, us being in this day and age of equality and all : )

    http://people.tribe.net/ecrivaine32/blog/f600fa12-bd27-42c0-b987-373c089d04e4

    January 10, 2007

  • i have a feeling this is going to describe me if i ever get married

    January 18, 2007

  • It doesn't seem like there is, but you could use the same etymology to come up with maritorious.

    Source: http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/uxorious

    January 18, 2007

  • Henpecked, "not wearing the pants in the family". Just saw a crossword puzzle clue: "caesar's wife" which worked out to "uxor".

    October 9, 2007

  • That's because uxor is Latin for "consort" or companion. (I think.) I'm basing this solely on the dark, cobwebbed recesses of my brain, in which "uxor" meant "the wife of" in medieval portraits of the kings of England. E.g. "Elizabeth Uxor Edwardus."

    October 9, 2007

  • It's sometimes used in legal terminology, as in "John Smith et ux." similar to "et al." or "etc." If John Smith gets divorced, her title become ex-ux.

    October 9, 2007

  • Ex-ux? That sux.

    October 9, 2007

  • Mistake--it's Latin for "wife."

    October 9, 2007

  • Don't look at me, it's Latin that sux. ;-)

    October 9, 2007

  • Usage note:

    1835 DICKENS Sk. Boz, Mr. Watkins Tottle i, "A rather uncommon compound of strong uxorious inclinations, and an unparalleled degree of anti-connubial timidity."

    October 9, 2007

  • equality? when did that happen?

    December 1, 2007

  • Responding to Ecrivaine33's original question, the word uxorious does apply to husbands, as it implies excessive devotion to one's wife.

    One might speculate that no corresponding word exists to describe the condition of a wife's excessive devotion to her husband, because back in the days when people used such high-falutin' latinate terms, this type of devotion was expected from all women. Somewhat analogous to lesbian acts never having been illegal in England, because the sodomy laws were instituted in Victorian times and the Queen simply could not imagine* intimate sexual acts between two women, making it unnecessary to criminalize such behavior.

    * of course, this implies the existence of behavior so unconscionably depraved it's legal. But then, maybe we should not look to a society which sent children down the coalmines for legal guidance.

    December 1, 2007

  • oh, snicker all you want! You know what I meant. The children were not being sent down the mines in search of legal guidance.

    December 1, 2007

  • that is pretty phunny! lol. i thought you were someone else who was going to point that out, but it turns out you caught your own mistake. or two interpretations at least.

    December 8, 2007

  • I remember having to decline this word in Latin class as a child. Uxor means wife. And Latin does not suck! How can you be a wordie and not love Latin? People suck, not languages.

    August 16, 2008

  • Logos, it was a joke.

    August 16, 2008

  • "Maritorious," formed from Latin "maritus," husband, is indeed a word (albeit obsolete); it means excessively fond of one's husband. It's listed in the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and the second edition of Webster's New International Dictionary.

    April 21, 2010

  • Towards his queen he was nothing uxorious, nor scarce indulgent; but companionable and respective. Bacon.

    That uxorious king, whose heart, though large,

    Beguil’d by fair idolatresses, fell

    To idols foul. Milton’s Paradise Lost.

    How would’st thou insult,

    When I must live uxorious to thy will

    In perfect thraldom, how again betray me? Milton.

    April 19, 2011