honeymoon

American  

[huhn-ee-moon] / ˈhʌn iˌmun /

noun

honeymoons plural

1. a vacation or trip taken by a newly married couple (often used attributively).

   After you've said "I do," why not escape to a dream honeymoon in Greece?

   Relax and kindle the flame of passion in one of our honeymoon suites.

2. a period of harmony at the beginning of a marriage.

   After the initial honeymoon, there may be a temptation to let routine take over.

3. any period of blissful harmony.

   Their entire 60 years of marriage was one long honeymoon.

4. any new relationship characterized by an initial period of harmony and goodwill.

   The honeymoon between Congress and the new president was over.

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verb (used without object)

honeymoons, present (3rd person singular) honeymooned, past participle, past honeymooning present participle

1. to spend one's honeymoon (usually followed by in orat ).

   In a few months we’ll be honeymooning in New Zealand, and we can't wait!

honeymoon British  

/ ˈhʌnɪˌmuːn /

noun

1. 1. a holiday taken by a newly married couple

   2. ( as modifier )

      a honeymoon cottage

2. a holiday considered to resemble a honeymoon

   a second honeymoon

3. the early, usually calm period of a relationship, such as a political or business one

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verb

1. (intr) to take a honeymoon

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• honeymooner
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• honeymoons
  plural

Participles

• honeymooning
  present
• honeymooned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• honeymoon
  simple
• honeymoons
  simple
• have honeymooned
  perfect
• has honeymooned
  perfect
• am honeymooning
  progressive
• are honeymooning
  progressive
• is honeymooning
  progressive
• have been honeymooning
  perfect progressive
• has been honeymooning
  perfect progressive

Past

• honeymooned
  simple
• had honeymooned
  perfect
• was honeymooning
  progressive
• were honeymooning
  progressive
• had been honeymooning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will honeymoon
  simple
• will have honeymooned
  perfect
• will be honeymooning
  progressive
• will have been honeymooning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of honeymoon

First recorded in 1540–50; honey + moon

Explanation

A honeymoon is a trip that newlyweds traditionally take right after their wedding. You might want to wait to get married until you meet someone who wants to go to Legoland on a honeymoon as much as you do. Some honeymoons are long and luxurious, involving cruises and Europe or tropical beaches and fancy hotels, while others are simple and low-key. Many married couples don't take a honeymoon at all, or wait years until having a holiday they call a honeymoon. In the 1540s, it was a hony moone, and it referred more generally to the sweet, tender span of time after a wedding. In German, it's a flitterwochen, or "tinsel week."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

honeymoon honeymoons honeymooned honeymooning

One member shared a photo from the first day of his honeymoon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

The couple said they were now off to the Cotswolds for their honeymoon, and would be planning even more parties and celebrations.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

It's now commonplace for invitations to read: "Your presence is enough, but if you would like to give us a gift, please donate to our honeymoon fund."

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

But what followed was one of the shortest honeymoon periods in British political history.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

I resemble no one so much as my father—the man pictured in those honeymoon photos.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

Massive infrastructure projects generally take longer than political honeymoons like the one Carney is enjoying, warns Alex Marland, professor of Canadian politics at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026

It opens in Portofino, the Italian town where the actor Richard Burton first proposed to her - and where she spent four of her eight honeymoons.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026

Now she mitigated the humiliation of letting someone else deal with her body’s waste by asking about their honeymoons and graduations and divorces.

From Slate ● Jun. 4, 2023

Couples on honeymoons or romantic vacations also enjoy the guided horseback tour organized by the resort.

From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2022

Its swaths of deep brush and arable land made it great for farming but less appealing for honeymoons and hedonism.

From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore

The family is aware of the town of Dumfries, with Denzel's uncle Morris having honeymooned there.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

In January, he married his longtime girlfriend at a ceremony in Mississippi and honeymooned in Mexico.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026

But James pointed out, ‘Actually, he and his wife honeymooned there.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2024

Still, the hotel maintained its sentimental pull as the place where your parents honeymooned; where you spent your first night in the big city; where you rendezvoused with friends.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 1, 2024

They honeymooned on Samos, the old stories tell us.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

While honeymooning in Sonoma, we saw a farmers market stand that made hot bite-sized doughnuts to order.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2024

A private tour to North America organised by Arthur Malley in 1932, which included a honeymooning Don Bradman, saw an Australian XI held to several draws including some on US soil.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2024

I read it in the summer of 2017 while honeymooning in Crete, a place whose Minoan civilization figures prominently in Cline’s narrative.

From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2024

A honeymooning U.S. couple who survived the eruption with severe burns, Matt Urey and Lauren Barham of Richmond, Virginia, are listed as the first witnesses to testify.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 10, 2023

He had been honeymooning with his fifth wife when he broke his leg.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut