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

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

This fact in no small degree contributed to the confusion among missionaries, who regarded group marriage now as a disorderly community of women, now as an arbitrary adultery.

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

It is also obvious that, as far as group marriage exists, descent can only be traced on the mother's side and, hence, only female lineage be acknowledged.

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

On the very next page group marriage is spoken of as having preceded the present state of things.

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