polygamist

American  

[puh-lig-uh-mist] / pəˈlɪg ə mɪst /

noun

1. a person who practices or favors polygamy.

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Other Word Forms

• polygamistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of polygamist

First recorded in 1630–40; polygam(y) + -ist

Explanation

A polygamist is a person who has more than one spouse, such as a polygamist who has three wives and 15 children. Having more than one spouse, a polygamist is a busy person. Polygamist comes from the Greek: poly- means "many" and gamos means "marriage." So by definition, a polygamist can be a man with multiple wives or a woman with multiple husbands. The thing to remember is that the marriages are on-going. A person who gets a divorce and is later remarried is not a polygamist.

Example Sentences

A university professor, Ata Aidoo won many literary awards including the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Changes, a love story about a statistician who divorces her first husband and enters into a polygamist marriage.

From BBC • May 31, 2023

They also revealed that Joseph Smith, contrary to church teachings at the time, had in fact been a prolific polygamist, despite Emma’s vocal protestations.

From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2023

She’s a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, a polygamist offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

From Washington Times • Feb. 2, 2023

An Arizona woman arrested Thursday leaving a Spokane Airbnb with eight girls believed to be wives of a polygamist has been ordered home to face federal charges.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 6, 2022

Aguirre-Sacasa had been a writer for HBO’s acclaimed Big Love, a drama about a polygamist Mormon family.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove