MARRIAGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does marriage mean? 

• MARRIAGE (noun)
  The noun MARRIAGE has 4 senses:

1. the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)

2. two people who are married to each other

3. the act of marrying; the nuptial ceremony

4. a close and intimate union

  Familiarity information: MARRIAGE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MARRIAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

marriage; matrimony; spousal relationship; union; wedlock

Context example:

God bless this union

Hypernyms ("marriage" is a kind of...):

marital status (the condition of being married or unmarried)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "marriage"):

sigeh (a Shiite tradition of temporary marriage permitted in Iran that allows a couple to specify the terms of their relationship; can last from a few minutes to 99 years)

polygamy (the condition or practice of having more than one spouse at a time)

cuckoldom (the state of a husband whose wife has committed adultery)

open marriage (a marriage in which each partner is free to enter into extraneous sexual relationships without guilt or jealousy from the other)

monogamousness; monogamy (the practice or state of having only one spouse at a time)

monandry (the state of having only one husband at a time)

misalliance (an unsuitable alliance (especially with regard to marriage))

marriage of convenience (a marriage for expediency rather than love)

exogamy; intermarriage (marriage to a person belonging to a tribe or group other than your own as required by custom or law)

endogamy; inmarriage; intermarriage (marriage within one's own tribe or group as required by custom or law)

common-law marriage (a marriage relationship created by agreement and cohabitation rather than by ceremony)

bigamy (the state of having two spouses at the same time)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Two people who are married to each other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

man and wife; marriage; married couple

Context example:

a married couple without love

Hypernyms ("marriage" is a kind of...):

family; family unit (primary social group; parents and children)

Meronyms (members of "marriage"):

better half; married person; mate; partner; spouse (a person's partner in marriage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "marriage"):

mixed marriage (marriage of two people from different races or different religions or different cultures)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of marrying; the nuptial ceremony

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

marriage; marriage ceremony; wedding

Context example:

their marriage was conducted in the chapel

Hypernyms ("marriage" is a kind of...):

rite; ritual (any customary observance or practice)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "marriage"):

civil marriage (a marriage performed by a government official rather than by a clergyman)

love match (a marriage for love's sake; not an arranged marriage)

remarriage (the act of marrying again)

bridal; espousal (archaic terms for a wedding or wedding feast)

Derivation:

marry (take in marriage)

marry (perform a marriage ceremony)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A close and intimate union

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

a marriage of ideas

Hypernyms ("marriage" is a kind of...):

unification; union (the state of being joined or united or linked)

 Context examples 

“What's put marriage in your head?”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Marriage is an excellent thing, after all.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Some say it was a just judgment on him for keeping his first marriage secret, and wanting to take another wife while he had one living: but I pity him, for my part.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

My marriage had drifted us away from each other.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your marriage and your trust, not know you!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I am an advocate for early marriages, where there are means in proportion, and would have every young man, with a sufficient income, settle as soon after four-and-twenty as he can.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

In marriage, the man is supposed to provide for the support of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable to the man; he is to purvey, and she is to smile.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I can satisfy you, perhaps, on points which you would little expect; and as to his marriage, I knew all about it at the time.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

On that same date, March 9, the full moon in Virgo will light your marriage, partnership, and commitment house.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)