common-law marriage

American  

noun

1. a marriage without a civil or ecclesiastical ceremony, generally resulting from an agreement to marry followed by the couple's living together.

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common-law marriage Cultural  

1. A legal marriage brought about by the cohabitation of a man and a woman, or by their agreement to consider themselves married, rather than by a wedding. (See common law.)

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Etymology

Origin of common-law marriage

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

No, because the federal government does not recognize common-law marriage either.

From Slate • Jul. 27, 2022

Balandina and Vasyliv are a longtime couple with two children who had already had a common-law marriage before Monday’s civil ceremony at the Lviv Surgery Center.

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2022

Knight, a confederate army deserter, was in a common-law marriage with a former slave.

From The Guardian • Dec. 29, 2015

Mrs. Fox jokes that if common-law marriage were recognized in New York, she would have been the common-law wife of a good friend, Nate, who lived at the house from 2005 until 2013.

From New York Times • Apr. 9, 2015

The common people seldom marry except, as we would term it, by the common-law marriage.

From A Woman's Impression of the Philippines by Fee, Mary Helen