open marriage

American  

noun

1. a marriage in which the partners agree that each is free to have sexual relationships with other partners.

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open marriage British  

noun

1. a marriage in which the partners are free to pursue their own social and sexual lives

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Etymology

Origin of open marriage

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Gaiman remains locked in a contentious custody battle with Palmer, with whom he once had an open marriage and divorced in 2022.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 15, 2025

It's entirely possible that nothing, not even an open marriage, could have saved Love and Joe's ultimately doomed relationship.

From Salon • Oct. 25, 2021

You can see then how data on open marriage, which stigma makes people less likely to report and which doesn’t require official paperwork at any rate, would be more difficult to obtain.

From Slate • Jul. 4, 2021

In their open marriage of convenience and calculation, she was the “brash” American who could offset Bowie’s British reserve and push him toward notoriety.

From Washington Post • Sep. 29, 2017

Abélard would perhaps have consented to an open marriage had Héloïse been willing; but with a strange perversity she refused.

From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 07 Great Women by Lord, John