concubinage
Americannoun
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cohabitation of a man and woman without legal or formal marriage.
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the state or practice of being a concubine.
Etymology
Origin of concubinage
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; concubine, -age
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.
In retaliation, Woodhull used her paper to expose one of her chief accusers, prominent minister Henry Ward Beecher, for his life “in concubinage with the wife of another.”
From Washington Post
In recent times Muslim rebels in Sudan as well as in Nigeria have used such arcane justifications to excuse enforced concubinage.
From Economist
In contrast, concubinage, which has no status, draws its only legitimacy from the love and affection shared by the couple.
From New York Times
In the old Roman society in the Eastern Empire this distinction between the marriage of the freeman and the concubinage of the slave was long recognised by Christianity itself.
From Project Gutenberg
Read the-life of Abraham, of David, of Solomon, of Jacob, and then tell me the sacred Bible does not teach polygamy and concubinage.
From Project Gutenberg
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.
