Dictionary

trophy wife en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Popularized by Julie Connelly in a Fortune magazine cover story in 1989, by analogy with a real estate trophy building.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, idiomatic, informal) A wife, usually young and attractive, regarded as a status symbol for her husband, usually older and affluent.
   • "Women considered trophy wives are accomplished and ambitious," she reported, "in both their careers and their lives. […] On what was trophy wife bottomed, as they say at the Supreme Court? 1994 May 1, William Safire, “ON LANGUAGE; Trophy Wife”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2021:
   • […] while Mrs. Scott-Baxter, his fourth (and trophy) wife, blonde and young and bored, glowered at the Baxter spawn like a mother mink in a mink farm, just waiting for a jet to strafe the facility, affording her an excuse to feign terror and eat her young. 1991, Douglas Coupland, “It Can't Last”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 34:
   • ‘She's with her nanny.’ ‘Oh yeah, I forgot. You're a proper trophy wife now. Staff and everything. Well…’ She produced a bottle of cava from a plastic bag. ‘With no child to keep up appearances for, let's get ourselves in the mood.’ 2008, Julia Llewellyn, The Model Wife, Penguin UK, →ISBN:
   • She was David's fourth wife. Twenty-four years his junior, they both knew why they were together. David was filthy rich, and Belinda was a trophy wife. In fact, this was her third time around in this career: Being a trophy wife. 2013, George G. Nyman, Love Lost in Time Relativity, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 12:
   • But don't expect this one to break up. Arnold [Schwarzenegger] got his trophy wife—a real-life Kennedy, his entreé to the top social echelons in the country—and he's not about to let her go. 1993 March, Sally Ogle Davis, “The good, the bad and the disasters”, in Ladies' Home Journal, page 57:

Forms

Coordinates

trophy husband

Relateds

arm candy

Translations (13)

cmn 花瓶妻 (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · mi hine kōpepe (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · he אישה ייצוגית (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · cmn 花瓶老婆 (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · fi edustusvaimo (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · nb trofékone (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · de Vorzeigefrau (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · pt esposa troféu (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · de Trophäenfrau (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · he אישה לראווה (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · he אישה לקישוט (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · ru трофейная жена (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband) · da trofækone (young attractive wife serving as a status symbol for her husband)