1
general::
husband/wife etc
husband/wife
the man/woman you are married to:
• My wife’s a teacher.
partner
the person you live with and have a sexual relationship with. Partner is often used when people are not married, or when you do not know if they are married. It is also used when talking about same-sex couples:
• He lives with his partner Ruth and their eight-month-old son.
fiancé/fiancée
the man/woman you are engaged to:
• He and fiancée Wendy Hodgson will marry in July.
divorcee
a woman who is divorced:
• The Prince announced his intention to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.
widow/widower
a woman or man whose husband or wife has died:
• Imelda Marcos, the widow of the former President
spouse
formal your spouse is your husband or wife:
• The rule applies to spouses and children of military personnel.
estranged wife/husband
formal someone’s estranged husband or wife is one who they do not live with anymore:
• She is trying to get her sons back from her estranged husband.
Longman-Thesaurus
3
general::
noun ADJ. future, prospective | suitable | ex-, former | dead, deceased, late | good, loving, wonderful | faithful | errant, unfaithful | estranged | absent | jealous | dominant, domineering | brutal, violent | house (= a man who stays at home to look after children, cook, clean, etc. while his wife works) VERB + HUSBAND meet That was the day she met her future husband. | marry | be divorced from, be separated from, divorce, leave, walk out on She suddenly walked out on her husband, leaving him to bring up the children. PHRASES husband and wife They lived together as husband and wife for over thirty years. | husband-to-be
Oxford Collocations Dictionary