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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.
Examples of bridal in a Sentence
Ryan Brennan,
Kansas City Star,
24 June 2026
Adrienne Bailon slipped back into her wedding gown for a jewelry campaign photo shoot, while Troian Bellisario transformed pieces of her bridal look into a chic outfit for a 2020 Golden Globes afterparty.
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Janine Henni,
PEOPLE,
17 June 2026
Logan Smith,
CBS News,
23 June 2026
In Sicily, Lipa moved her bridal wardrobe in the opposite direction from her London civil ceremony.
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Maggie Clancy,
Footwear News,
20 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for bridal
Cite this Entry
“Bridal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bridal. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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