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.
The reaction of the Hampden crowd at the end told you that the first marital row has now occurred.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
They then compared those habits with three measures of relationship health: communication, conflict resolution and marital stress.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Divorce law treats marital property as an equitable or 50/50 split, depending on the state.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Trying to stifle anger over this may be the single most common topic in Christian marital advice content.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
He and Tessie were stationed at Pearl Harbor, where they lived in austere marital housing and where my mother, at twenty-five, got a terrible sunburn and was never seen in a bathing suit again.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
