group marriage

American  

noun

1. (among primitive peoples) a form of marriage in which a group of males is united with a group of females to form a single conjugal unit.

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group marriage British  

noun

1. an arrangement in which several males live together with several females, forming a conjugal unit

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Etymology

Origin of group marriage

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

group marriage

In fact, Guiteau had so little luck during his five-plus years living at the Oneida Community, a New York religious commune that practiced group marriage, that the women there nicknamed him “Charles Git-out.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 21, 2019

An unconventional look at the director’s conventional parents, who lived in a group marriage in the ’70s.

From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2010

And group marriage is actually practised by men to this day.

From The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels

Alongside of and within the generally existing group marriage such exclusive relations are formed, pairing for a shorter or longer term by the side of polygamy, so that here also group marriage is declining.

From The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels

We now come to the marriage customs of the Australian natives of the present day and the supposed survivals of group marriage.

From Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia by Northcote Whitridge Thomas