BACHELORHOOD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bachelorhood mean? 

• BACHELORHOOD (noun)
  The noun BACHELORHOOD has 2 senses:

1. the time of a man's life prior to marriage

2. the state of being an unmarried man

  Familiarity information: BACHELORHOOD used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BACHELORHOOD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The time of a man's life prior to marriage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("bachelorhood" is a kind of...):

time of life (a period of time during which a person is normally in a particular life state)

Derivation:

bachelor (a man who has never been married)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of being an unmarried man

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("bachelorhood" is a kind of...):

marital status (the condition of being married or unmarried)

Derivation:

bachelor (a man who has never been married)

 Context examples 

A quarter of a mile inland we came upon the holluschickie—sleek young bulls, living out the loneliness of their bachelorhood and gathering strength against the day when they would fight their way into the ranks of the Benedicts.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

After this, Meg had Mr. Scott to dinner by special invitation, and served him up a pleasant feast without a cooked wife for the first course, on which occasion she was so gay and gracious, and made everything go off so charmingly, that Mr. Scott told John he was a lucky fellow, and shook his head over the hardships of bachelorhood all the way home.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)