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• shotgun wedding
  shotgun wedding

  noun

  a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
• Shotgun wedding
  Shotgun wedding

  An agreement or compromise made through necessity, as in Since neither side won a majority, the coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding. This expression alludes to a marriage precipitated by a woman's pregnancy, causing her father to point a literal or figurative gun at the responsible man's head. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

shotgun wedding

American  

Or shotgun marriage

noun

1. a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.

2. Informal. a compromise, merger, accord, etc., occasioned by necessity.

   The coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding.

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shotgun wedding British  

noun

1. informal a wedding into which one or both partners are coerced, usually because the woman is pregnant

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Shotgun wedding Idioms  

1. An agreement or compromise made through necessity, as in Since neither side won a majority, the coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding. This expression alludes to a marriage precipitated by a woman's pregnancy, causing her father to point a literal or figurative gun at the responsible man's head. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

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Etymology

Origin of shotgun wedding

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shotgun wedding

She left shortly after, and was planning to move back to northern Scotland - but instead the pair conducted a "shotgun wedding".

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

And we do that kind of shotgun wedding, and then the kids churn through homes.

From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2022

McCorvey’s grandmother Bertha had a rushed, if not shotgun, wedding after she became pregnant with McCorvey’s mother.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 16, 2021

There were no other Supreme Court justices in attendance, with the exception of Justice Clarence Thomas, who performed the ceremony, the equivalent of a shotgun wedding.

From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2020

To say it was a shotgun wedding would not be inaccurate.

From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King