Synonyms

out of wedlock

Idioms

Of parents not legally married, as in Over the centuries many royal children were born out of wedlock. The noun wedlock, for the state of being married, is rarely heard today except in this phrase, first recorded in 1675; its converse, in wedlock, dates from the 1300s and is even more rarely used.

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.

“If we see that 70% of households are raising children out of wedlock, that means 30% are not,” Mr. Woodson once told me.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026

Maternity homes were popular before Roe as a place where usually teen mothers went to secretly have babies that were conceived out of wedlock.

From Slate • Jun. 24, 2025

Catherine gave birth in an orphanage in Dublin and, because of attitudes at the time about children born out of wedlock, she was coerced into giving Gladys up for adoption.

From BBC • Sep. 20, 2024

Cohen also recounted going to Trump after learning about a Trump Tower doorman who claimed, falsely, that Trump had a child out of wedlock.

From Seattle Times • May 13, 2024

In 1901 they had a child out of wedlock, a daughter, who was discreetly put up for adoption.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023