marriage
Americannoun
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(broadly) any of the diverse forms of interpersonal union established in various parts of the world to form a familial bond that is recognized legally, religiously, or socially, granting the participating partners mutual conjugal rights and responsibilities and including, for example, opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, plural marriage, and arranged marriage:
Anthropologists say that some type of marriage has been found in every known human society since ancient times.
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Also called opposite-sex marriage. the form of this institution under which a man and a woman have established their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.
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this institution expanded to include two partners of the same gender, as in
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the state, condition, or relationship of being married; wedlock.
They have a happy marriage.
- Synonyms:
- matrimony
- Antonyms:
- singleness, spinsterhood, bachelorhood
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the legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of two people to live as a married couple, including the accompanying social festivities.
to officiate at a marriage.
- Synonyms:
- wedding
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a relationship in which two people have pledged themselves to each other in the manner of a husband and wife, without legal sanction.
trial marriage.
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any close or intimate association or union.
the marriage of words and music in a hit song.
- Antonyms:
- schism, disunion, division, separation
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a formal agreement between two companies or enterprises to combine operations, resources, etc., for mutual benefit; merger.
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a blending or matching of different elements or components.
The new lipstick is a beautiful marriage of fragrance and texture.
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Cards. a meld of the king and queen of a suit, as in pinochle.
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a piece of antique furniture assembled from components of two or more authentic pieces.
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Obsolete. the formal declaration or contract by which act a man and a woman join in wedlock.
noun
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the state or relationship of living together in a legal partnership
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the legal union or contract made by two people to live together
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( as modifier )
marriage licence
marriage certificate
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the religious or legal ceremony formalizing this union; wedding
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a close or intimate union, relationship, etc
a marriage of ideas
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(in certain card games, such as bezique, pinochle) the king and queen of the same suit
Synonym Usage
Marriage, wedding, nuptials are terms for the ceremony uniting couples in wedlock. Marriage is the simple and usual term, without implications as to circumstances and without emotional connotations: to announce the marriage of a daughter. Wedding has rather strong emotional, even sentimental, connotations, and suggests the accompanying festivities, whether elaborate or simple: a beautiful wedding; a reception after the wedding. Nuptials is a formal and lofty word applied to the ceremony and attendant social events; it does not have emotional connotations but strongly implies surroundings characteristic of wealth, rank, pomp, and grandeur: royal nuptials. It appears frequently on newspaper society pages chiefly as a result of the attempt to avoid continual repetition of marriage and wedding.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of marriage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English mariage, from Old French, equivalent to mari(er) “to wed” + -age noun suffix; see origin at marry 1 , -age
Explanation
Marriage is when two people join together through a legal contract, a religious ceremony, or both. In some cultures, marriage is arranged by families, and in others people choose their own husbands or wives if they decide to marry. There are some places where marriage is limited to unions between a man and a woman, while more and more states and countries recognize marriage between same-sex couples too. You can also use the noun marriage to talk about a more figurative link between two things: “The song was a strange marriage of Bavarian polka and punk rock.”
Vocabulary lists containing marriage
It's All in the Family
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"Atalanta's Race"
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 9
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The working parent might provide a dollar amount for every year of marriage after a child is born.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Near the top of the list: Divorces where the spouse who stays home with the children is left with very little after decades of marriage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
From March 2019 to May 2026, Chen submitted 15 marriage applications to the Clark County Marriage License Bureau, resulting in eight marriage certificates being issued, according to county records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
Thus live, dear Maggie, until God brings me back to you; and then … we will resign ourselves to a passion sanctified by love and marriage … Let us live for each other.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Some couples say their marriages hinge on one party coming around to their spouse’s cat, dealing with severe rashes, smelly litter boxes and early wakeups for love.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
It used to be said that infidelity and money woes were the main causes of broken marriages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
His successor, Pope Francis, had, starting in 2015, recognised the validity of confessions and marriages celebrated by the society's priests.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
But they all have some of them, and it’s messing up their lives and their jobs and their marriages.
From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026
They made grand marriages, too, but the arrival of the first grandchild brought disappointment.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
