trial marriage
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of trial marriage
First recorded in 1920–25
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.
I’m also assuming this is a one-year trial marriage of the new coaching staff and the existing coach-killing quarterback.
From Chicago Tribune • Jan. 22, 2015
Young spoke flamboyantly of the benefits�notably of "revolutionary" improvement in service�which a "trial marriage" between Central and C. & O. would bring to both partners.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Says Dr. Edward Craig Hobbs of Berkeley's Episcopal Church Divinity School of the Pacific: "Something like trial marriage would be vastly superior to our present system, which is marriage, divorce and remarriage."
From Time Magazine Archive
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During the first phase, which would, in effect, be a trial marriage, the young couple would be required to agree not to have children.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Judge: We thought we believed in trial marriage.
From Why Marry? by Williams, Jesse Lynch
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.