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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
Jennifer Day, Chicago Tribune, 1 Jan. 2026
Shmidman said that Wang — the person, bridal and fashion — is really powerful.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 10 Nov. 2025
Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 25 Dec. 2025
Luckily, my hair stylist in NYC also does makeup and has previously glammed bridal clients abroad.
—Katie Henwood, Vogue, 23 Dec. 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 5 Jan. 2026.
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