marital
American-
of or relating to marriage; conjugal; matrimonial.
marital vows; marital discord.
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Archaic. of or relating to a husband.
adjective
-
of or relating to marriage
marital status
-
of or relating to a husband
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of marital
1595–1605; < Latin marītālis of married people, derivative of marītus of marriage. See marry 1, -al 1
Explanation
Use the adjective marital to describe something that relates to a marriage. You may envy the marital contentment of spouses who communicate well with each other. When you pronounce marital, put the accent on the first syllable and use the short i sound: "MAR i tul." Now you're ready to ask people, "What is your marital status?" They'll answer that they're single or married, or possibly engaged, widowed, divorced, or living as unmarried partners. Marital comes from Latin: maritalis, meaning "of or belonging to married people," and maritus, meaning "husband."
Vocabulary lists containing marital
100 SAT Words Beginning with "M"
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Vocabulary for the Naturalization Interview
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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 Tennessee, “inappropriate marital conduct” is a commonly cited ground in a fault-based petition for divorce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
When Hostin enthused that she has “a PhD in ChatGPT” and regularly uses the LLM for personal and marital counseling, Swisher held up a warning finger: “Please don’t do that.”
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
Implying that Platner’s behavior was nothing out of the ordinary in marital life, she went on, “No marriage is perfect, and I don’t want a perfect marriage.”
From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026
With the high bar it set for entry into its elite training system, and its sclerotic marital customs limiting birthrates, its population of homoioi decreased while neighboring states were growing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
Holmes even wanted Ned to buy life insurance, for surely once his marital strife subsided, he would want to protect Julia and Pearl from destitution in the event of his death.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
