bridal

noun brid·al \ ˈbrī-dᵊl \

Updated on: 11 Apr 2018

Definition of bridal

: a marriage festival or ceremony

Recent Examples of bridal from the Web

Before opening his East 55th Street boutique, Ingram worked for the designer for four years, heading up wholesale for bridal in the late Nineties.

— rosemary feitelberg | wwd, latimes.com, "Amsale Aberra, bridal designer and Amsale Group founder, dies at 64," 2 Apr. 2018
And earlier in March, Markle reportedly had a private bridal shower ahead of her big day.

— madeline farber, Fox News, "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's royal wedding: Everything you need to know," 1 Apr. 2018
Meghan Markle's done all the requisite pre-royal wedding things, like attend official appearances with her future sister-in-law, have a v. fancy bridal shower, and be baptized.

— tess koman, Cosmopolitan, "Meghan Markle Just (Secretly!) Took Her Biggest Step Yet Toward Becoming a Royal," 8 Mar. 2018
Additonally, Markle reportedly had a private bridal shower ahead of her big day.

— madeline farber, Fox News, "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's royal wedding: Everything you need to know," 8 Mar. 2018
At a recent bridal shower, Laura Ladd Jones was just another 60-something woman in the crowd – until school board member Rhonda Cheek introduced her as the voice of Gus the Bus.

— ann doss helms, charlotteobserver, "For 34 years she’s been Charlotte’s beloved Gus the Bus. Her retirement ends an era. | Charlotte Observer," 28 Feb. 2018
Structured, draped gowns are also big for spring, as are fresh bridal separates, which were seen on the runways at Oscar de la Renta, Viktor & Rolf and Sachin & Babi, which brought back the concept of strong bridal outerwear with its coatdress look.

— tony bravo, San Francisco Chronicle, "Bridal gown trends veer toward modesty but don’t lack drama," 26 Jan. 2018
Call 847-336-7900 or go to 1023xlc.com/10th-annual-lake-county-bridal-show/. Roooaaarrr: Erth's Dinosaur Zoo makes a stop at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Genesee Theatre.

— Lake County News-Sun, "Five things to do in the Lake County Jan. 26-Feb. 1," 22 Jan. 2018
The princess-to-be apparently got help from her friend, Canadian bridal stylist Jessica Mulroney, to help her with the process of picking the right gown.

— laura beck, Cosmopolitan, "It Looks Like Meghan Markle Has Chosen Her Wedding Dress Designer," 20 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bridal.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

A secondary meaning of Old English ealu, the ancestor of Modern English ale, was “feast, banquet,” at which the drinking of ale was a prominent activity. There were a number of these feasts and banquets that survived into the 19th century, but the oldest and best-established was the bride-ale, or wedding feast, attested in Old English as brydealu. In Middle English the ale half of the word had lost its stress and was associated with the noun suffix –al (as in funeral) and the adjective suffix (as in parental). By the 18^th^ century, bridal was perceived primarily as an adjective, as it is today.