banns
Americannoun
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notice of an intended marriage, given three times in the parish church of each of the betrothed.
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any public announcement of a proposed marriage, either verbal or written and made in a church or by church officials.
plural noun
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the public declaration of an intended marriage, usually formally announced on three successive Sundays in the parish churches of both the betrothed
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to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
Etymology
Origin of banns
1540–50; variant of bans, plural of ban 2
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.
A photograph of the wedding banns has been posted in several newspapers.
From BBC • May 21, 2018
The marriage banns, posted on a bulletin board in the town hall, included those for an auto-body painter and a cashier, a zinc roofer and his stay-at-home fiancée, and an optician and a midwife.
From The New Yorker • May 1, 2017
As a result, you may miss some crucial plot details, like the fact that Claudio and Julietta were really considered married; Claudio just had not paid for the banns.
From New York Times • Aug. 19, 2012
The banns list the couple as James Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell.
From Reuters • Sep. 17, 2011
The fact that gossip had published the banns was one of the reasons I had come east.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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.
