trailing spouse

(TRAY.ling spows)

n.

In a relationship, the person who gives up their job in order to follow the other person to a new location where that person has found employment.

Example Citation:

Not fitting in socially may seem like a small thing. But it can lead to severe difficulties. The Japanese psychologist Junko Tanaka-Matsumi, who worked with the 50,000-member Japanese community in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region, noted that a foreign transfer could commonly spell depression for so-called trailing spouses.

— Sharon Reier, "Tricky task of choosing a therapist," The International Herald Tribune, March 22, 2003

Earliest Citation:

In the past, companies primarily found jobs for wives of transferred employes. But now that too is changing. As women reach higher positions in corporations, more and more are being asked to transfer, and the husband ends up as the "trailing spouse."

— "Firms transferring employes often find jobs for spouses," The Wall Street Journal, January 21, 1982

Related Words:

alpha earner

kitchen pass

office spouse

wasband

Categories:

Marriage and Relationships

People