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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
Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 27 May 2025
The brand, which started with bridal in 2013 under founder and chief executive Nicole Wegman, counts its digital know-how and first-arriver advantage to social media marketing as key differentiators.
—James Manso, Footwear News, 13 May 2025
Edward Segarra, USA Today, 27 May 2025
In the video circulated by TMZ, Lovato wore a strapless bridal gown with a dramatic thigh slit while the groom was decked out in a black tuxedo.
—Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 25 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for bridal
Cite this Entry
“Bridal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bridal. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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