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concubinage

[ kon-kyoo-buh-nij, kong- ]

noun

  1. cohabitation of a man and woman without legal or formal marriage.
  2. the state or practice of being a concubine.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of concubinage1

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; concubine, -age
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Example Sentences

"In the meantime, they are considered by the Church to be living in concubinage because their traditional marriage has no canonical value," he said in a paper published in 1994.

From BBC

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.”

She might have had a cheating husband who lived “in concubinage” with another woman in the Caribbean while Prince was busy fighting slavery in England.

In recent times Muslim rebels in Sudan as well as in Nigeria have used such arcane justifications to excuse enforced concubinage.

In contrast, concubinage, which has no status, draws its only legitimacy from the love and affection shared by the couple.

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