What is the difference between spouse and wed?

As nouns the difference between spouse and wed

is that spouse is a person's husband or wife while Wed is an alternative spelling of Wed.|lang=en.

is that spouse is to wed; to espouse while wed is to perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony.

(en noun)

A person's husband or wife.

People should treat their spouses with respect.

* Spenser

At last such grace I found, and means I wrought, / That I that lady to my spouse had won.

* spousal (pos a)

(dated) To wed; to espouse.

* 1819 , , Otho the Great , Act III, Scene II, verses 212-214

Do you stand possess’d

Of any proof against the honourableness

Of Lady Auranthe, our new-spoused daughter?

To perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony.

The priest wed the couple.

* Milton

And Adam, wedded to another Eve, / Shall live with her.

To take as one's spouse.

She wed her first love.

To take a spouse.

(figuratively) To join (more or less permanently)

* Shakespeare

Thou art wedded to calamity.

* Tillotson

Men are wedded to their lusts.

* 2008 , Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns , page 72:

(figurative) To take to oneself and support; to espouse.

* Clarendon

They positively and concernedly wedded his cause.

* marry