prenuptial
Americanadjective
adjective
Pronunciation
See nuptial.
Usage
What does prenuptial mean? Prenuptial means before marriage. Prenuptial is most commonly used in the term prenuptial agreement, which refers to a legal contract entered into by a couple before marriage that specifies things like the division of their finances and assets, especially in case the marriage ends, such as through divorce. It is commonly called a prenup for short. Example: Everyone thought it was strange that we had a prenuptial agreement, but life is unpredictable.
Etymology
Origin of prenuptial
Explanation
Anything that's prenuptial happens before two people get married. A common prenuptial superstition is that a couple shouldn't see each other on the day of their wedding until they're actually walking down the aisle. You're most likely to find this adjective in the legal term "prenuptial agreement," or prenup for short. This friendly-sounding phrase describes a legal contract signed by two people before their marriage, in which they agree to certain terms if they eventually get divorced. A prenuptial agreement might include details of dividing money or property, for example. Pre- means "before," and nuptial comes from the Latin nuptiae, "wedding."
Vocabulary lists containing prenuptial
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: pre-
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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.
Gifts can become messy if home buyers get divorced without any established prenuptial agreements or formal loan documents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
You might think that prenuptial agreements are only necessary if one or both people are coming into a marriage with a lot of assets.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The breakup of the Overdecks is a high-profile example of how messy a divorce can get, especially at upper-income levels, when the two sides don’t have a prenuptial agreement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
In their 2015 divorce settlement, Citadel Chief Executive Ken Griffin and Anne Dias agreed their prenuptial agreement was valid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
In her early years she dabbled a little in poetry herself, and there is a tradition in the family that the prenuptial correspondence was for a long time wholly in verse.
From The Poems of Philip Freneau, Volume I (of III) by Philip Freneau
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
