old maid

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

While Agathe initially identifies with the wilting old maid Anne from “Persuasion,” her shyly budding connection with Oliver is more Elizabeth Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025

If they chance upon the foul water, they are set to marry a widow or widower and if they choose the empty dish "the person is destined to be a bachelor or an old maid".

From Salon • Oct. 30, 2023

One instance was fairly low stakes: she told my sister-in-law I had called her an old maid, which was not true.

From Slate • Aug. 20, 2021

Still, we suspect that she is a sad case, a solitary old maid gabbing to her niece about happier times.

From The New Yorker • May 1, 2017

Well, her sleeping like an old maid did prove one thing: she and Grandpa hadn’t been sweet on each other before Granny died.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns