marriage
Pluralmarriages
- 1The legally or formally recognized union of two people (in some cultures more) as partners, with legal, social, and often religious rights and duties; historically often limited to a man and a woman.
A recognized marriage grants both partners shared rights to property and inheritance.
In many societies, marriage links two families rather than just two individuals.
UsageSomeone's marriage to a person: his marriage to a doctor.
Similarmatrimony, wedlock, union
Note
The broadest sense, wide enough for unions with several spouses: Tapuwae's marriage to his two wives, Esau's marriage to his Hittite wives. English keeps the noun singular here even when the spouses are plural: one marriage, many wives. Open marriage, where partners may have outside relationships, also falls under this umbrella.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Tapuwae had two wives. en.wikipedia.org
- Esau married Hittite wives, according to Genesis. en.wikisource.org
- An open marriage permits outside relationships by mutual agreement. en.wiktionary.org
- 2The condition or status of being married to another person.
Their marriage lasted more than fifty years.
She entered marriage with clear expectations about partnership.
UsageOften with no article: enter marriage, years of marriage. You can also have a happy marriage.
Oppositedivorce
- 3The ceremony in which two people are formally wed.
The marriage was conducted by a priest before the whole congregation.
Hundreds of relatives attended their marriage at the family estate.
UsageFor the ceremony itself, wedding is the more everyday word.
Note
Here the word names an event rather than a state, the way wedding does. It suits formal phrasing, as in the invitation formula the marriage of James Smith and Jane Doe, and it can make their marriage ambiguous between the ceremony and the years that followed. Context usually settles it: attended points to the event, lasted to the married state.
- 4A close union, combination, or blending of two different things.
The novel is a marriage of historical fact and pure invention.
Their startup represents a marriage of art and technology.
UsageUsually a marriage of A and B: a marriage of music and drama.
Similarblend, combination, fusion, union, mix
Note
The image implies two different things made to work as one. It can praise, as in Amy Scattergood's 2006 piece in the Los Angeles Times, or carry unease, as when art meets money.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Scattergood's 2006 Times piece uses the metaphor approvingly. latimes.com
Less common meanings
- 5A romantic or sexual partnership formed between two male prisoners.
Their marriage on the cell block gave both men some protection.
He admitted that his prison marriage to a cellmate ended when he was paroled.
Note
Prison slang that borrows the vocabulary of wedlock for a sexual or romantic partnership between male inmates, an informal bond with no legal standing. Outside that setting the word will be heard in its ordinary sense. It is safest used in writing about prison life, with the context made plain, rather than in general conversation.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Marriage is prison slang for a sexual or romantic relationship between male prisoners. en.wiktionary.org
- This prison terminology applies the language of marriage to inmate relationships. csvr.org.za
- 6A king and queen held together as a hand in certain poker variants, or a king and queen of the same suit melded in pinochle.
- 7In solitaire and patience games, the act of placing a card on an adjacent-value card of the same suit.
Practice
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Origin
Latin marītus ("lover," "nuptial"), perhaps from mas ("male"), gave the verb marītō ("to marry," literally "give in marriage"). From this came Old French marier ("to marry") and the noun mariage, which passed into Middle English as mariage. In English terms it is equivalent to marry plus -age.