Wives enshrine marriage vow for one bereft? (5)
I believe the answer is:
widow
'one bereft?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'wives enshrine marriage vow' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'vow' could be 'ido' (I do - vow said at weddings) and 'ido' is located in the answer.
'wives' could be 'ww' (an abbreviation for wife written twice) and 'ww' is located in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for widow that I've seen before include "eg Dowager" , "One without partner" , "Black -----, cannibalistic venomous spider" , "One losing partner" , "Grass --, divorced woman" .)