group marriage

American  

noun

1. (among primitive peoples) a form of marriage in which a group of males is united with a group of females to form a single conjugal unit.

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group marriage British  

noun

1. an arrangement in which several males live together with several females, forming a conjugal unit

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Etymology

Origin of group marriage

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

group marriage

In fact, Guiteau had so little luck during his five-plus years living at the Oneida Community, a New York religious commune that practiced group marriage, that the women there nicknamed him “Charles Git-out.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 21, 2019

An unconventional look at the director’s conventional parents, who lived in a group marriage in the ’70s.

From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2010

By this increasing complication of marriage restrictions, group marriage became more and more impossible; it was displaced by the pairing family.

From The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Engels, Friedrich

It is therefore not rash to say that the case for group marriage, so far as Australia is concerned, falls to the ground.

From Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia by Thomas, Northcote Whitridge

On the very next page group marriage is spoken of as having preceded the present state of things.

From Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia by Thomas, Northcote Whitridge