marriage

English Online Dictionary. What means marriage‎? What does marriage mean?

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

• mariage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English mariage, from Old French mariage, from marier (“to marry”), from Latin marītō (“marry”, verb, literally “give in marriage”), from marītus (“lover”, “nuptial”), from mas (“male, masculine, of the male sex”). Equivalent to marry +‎ -age. Doublet of maritage. Displaced native Old English sinsċipe.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmæɹɪdʒ/
• (General American) enPR: mărʹĭj
  • (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈmæɹɪdʒ/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɹɪdʒ/, /ˈmeɹɪdʒ/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈmæreːd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -æɹɪdʒ

Noun

marriage (countable and uncountable, plural marriages)

1. The state of being married. [from 14th c.]

2. A union of two or more people that creates a family tie and carries legal, social, and/or religious rights and responsibilities. [from 14th c.]
   • 1944, Tiaki Hikawera Mitira, Takitimu, page 123:

     By his marriage to his two wives, Tapuwae quietly strengthened all of the pas of the Wairoa district, as many of them came under his control through these unions.

   • 1990, John Stevens, Lust for enlightenment: Buddhism and sex:

     One layman in Buddha's time decided to embrace celibacy and relinquished his marriage vows to his four wives. When he asked them what they wanted in terms of a settlement, one said, […]

   • 1995, Edith Deen, All of the women of the Bible, page 275:

     The account of the loss of the blessing of his father Isaac appears immediately after Esau's marriage to his Hittite wives.
   1. (sometimes specifically) The union of only two people, to the exclusion of all others.

      My grandparents' marriage lasted for forty years.

      Pat and Leslie's marriage to each other lasted forty years.

   2. (often specifically) The union of two people of opposite sex, to the exclusion of all others.
3. A wedding; a ceremony in which people wed. [from 14th c.]

4. (figuratively) A close union. [from 15th c.]
   • 2006 August 9, Amy Scattergood, A wild dream in the wild, published in the Los Angeles Times, republished in 2009 in The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant (by Michelle and Phillip Wojtowicz and Michael Gilson with Catherine Price), on the cover:

     But the food is real: a marriage of local ingredients and serious technique.
5. A joining of two parts.
6. (card games) A king and a queen, when held as a hand in some versions of poker or melded in pinochle.
7. (card games) In solitaire or patience games, the placing a card of the same suit on the next one above or below it in value.
8. (prison slang) A homosexual relationship between male prisoners.

Usage notes

• For a detailed discussion of marriage as an institution, with its traditions, its norms, and its accompanying legal rights and obligations, please consult the Wikipedia article on marriage.
• On Wiktionary, see also "common-law marriage", "open marriage", and "gay marriage".

Synonyms

• matrimony
• wedding
• civil union

Antonyms

• divorce

Hyponyms

• wedlease

Derived terms

English terms starting with “marriage”

Related terms

• marry

Translations

See also

References

• “marriage”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• marriage in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “marriage”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• Michael Weisenberg, The Official Dictionary of Poker (2000, MGI/Mike Caro University, →ISBN

Anagrams

• germaria