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Synonyms

ménage à trois

American  
[mey-nahzh ah trwah, mey-nazh a trwah] / meɪˈnɑʒ ɑ ˈtrwɑ, meɪ naʒ a ˈtrwɑ /
Or menage a trois

noun

plural

ménages à trois

  1. a domestic arrangement in which three people, usually a heterosexual couple and one other person, are engaged in a sexual or romantic relationship and occupy the same household.

  2. threesome.

ménage à trois British  
/ menaʒ a trwɑ /

noun

  1. a sexual arrangement involving a married couple and the lover of one of them

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ménage à trois

First recorded in 1860–65; from French: “household of three”

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.

Take Kafka: in his novels and short stories he reveals himself to be obsessed with what, by now, we should see as a three-way stand-off, or ménage à trois, between man, technology and writing.

From The Guardian • Jul. 23, 2010

Anne d'Autriche, too, left Compiègne practically a prisoner; another ménage à trois had been broken up.

From Royal Palaces and Parks of France by McManus, Blanche

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.