civil marriage

noun

1. a marriage performed by a government official, as distinguished from a member of the clergy.

civil marriage

noun

1. law a marriage performed by some official other than a clergyman

Word History and Origins

Origin of civil marriage¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Of the 316 civil marriage ceremonies held in Jersey in 2024, 135 took place at the Register Office - 24 more than the year before.

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Albert, 62, and Paul, 71, had previously been in a civil marriage and while they had split up, they remained close and continued to live together.

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Her argument was that the king - known to his subjects as "Ingonyama", meaning Lion - would be committing the offence of "bigamy" without first "converting" his civil marriage to her into a traditional Zulu marriage.

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Under South African law, a civil marriage must either be dissolved or converted to a traditional union before a man can take any more wives.

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She also believed that a civil marriage would be valid only if it were held in a court.

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