widower

noun

Etymology: From Middle English widwer, equivalent to widow + -er.

1. A man whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried); a man in relation to his late spouse; masculine of widow.

   “Tears of the widower, when he sees ⁠A late-lost form that sleep reveals, ⁠And moves his doubtful arms, and feels Her place is empty, fall like these; […]”

   “What happens to the lovers of people with AIDS? How do they experience the passage from lover to caregiver to "widower"?”