marriagemar‧riage /ˈmærɪdʒ/ ●●● S2 W2 noun 
She has three daughters from a previous marriage.marriage to his marriage to Marilyn Monroemarriage between In Denmark they have legalized marriage between gay couples.RegisterIn everyday English, when talking about the action of marrying, people usually use the expression get married rather than marriage: I think they’re too young for marriage. ➔ I think they’re too young to get married.2[countable] the ceremony in which two people get married SYN wedding: The marriage took place at St Bartholomew’s Church.3by marriage if you are related to someone by marriage, they are married to someone in your family, or you are married to someone in theirs: her cousin by marriageCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesa happy/unhappy marriage· Ours was a very happy marriage.a successful marriage· The key to a successful marriage is friendship.a failed/broken marriage· After two failed marriages, she was not willing to risk marrying again.somebody’s first/second etc marriage· She had two children from her first marriage.a previous marriage· Anne is his daughter from a previous marriage.an arranged marriage (=when your parents choose the person you will marry)· In their culture, there is a tradition of arranged marriage.a same-sex/gay marriage (=a marriage between two homosexual people, which is not legal in many places)· a proposal to allow same-sex marriage in the statea mixed marriage (=between people of different races or religions)· Her parents disapproved of mixed marriages.an interracial marriage (=between people of different races)· Interracial marriage is more common than it used to be.a loveless marriage· Why should I stay in a loveless marriage?a childless marriage· It was a happy but childless marriage.verbshave a long/happy etc marriage· They have a happy marriage.a marriage ends· Her three marriages all ended in divorce.a marriage breaks down/up (=ends because of disagreements)· Liz’s marriage broke up after only eight months.save your marriage (=do things to try to stay together as a married couple)· They’re going to counseling to try to save their marriage.propose marriage formal (=ask someone to marry you)· He plucked up the courage to propose marriage to her.consummate a marriage formal (=make your marriage complete by having sex)· She claimed that he abused her and never consummated the marriage.a marriage is annulled formal (=is officially ended by a court or church)· Henry VIII had his first marriage annulled.phrasesthe breakdown/breakup of somebody’s marriage (=the end of it)· The breakup of her marriage had a devastating effect on her.a proposal of marriage formal (=when someone asks you to marry them)· She rejected his proposal of marriage.be born outside marriage (=be born when your parents are not married)· Four in ten children are born outside marriage.sex before/outside marriage· Her religious beliefs prevented sex before marriage.ask for somebody’s hand in marriage old-fashioned (=ask someone to marry you, or ask their parents for permission to marry)· He asked my father for my hand in marriage.the sanctity of marriage formal (=marriage seen as something that is very important and must be preserved and respected)COMMON ERRORS ► Don’t say ‘marriage life’. Say married life.
WORD ORIGINmarriage
Origin:
1200-1300 French mariage, from marier; ➔ MARRYEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- After a disastrous first marriage to a young soldier, Kylie didn't feel like rushing into another relationship.
- City Hall keeps a record of all the births, deaths and marriages in the county.
- Do you think marriage is still important to young people?
- Many people still disapprove of sex before marriage.
- My folks have had a long and happy marriage.
- One in three marriages ends in divorce.
- Over a third of all marriages now end in divorce.
- She already has two children from a previous marriage.
- The marriage took place at Bethel Lutheran church.
- The marriage took place without the bride's parents' consent.
- We had to bring our marriage certificate to prove that we are married.
- What's the secret of a successful marriage?
- And entering upon a marriage calls for human decision.
- And she watched from the sidelines as his marriage dissolved and became scandal fodder.
- Did the marriage take place in wartime?
- It is remarkable that we have survived 43 years of marriage in such conflict.
- My first marriage, to Mandy, went wrong because we married too young.
- She imagines that marriage to such a man would offer mental enrichment and the opportunity for good works.
- She said she loved him, they said they loved him, but somehow nobody would fix a date for a marriage.
- Their marriage ended in divorce in 1995.
THESAURUS
a ceremony in which two people get married, especially one with a religious service: · We had our wedding in the local church.· a registry office wedding
a wedding. Marriage is less common and more formal than wedding: · Their marriage will take place in Westminster Abbey.
a large formal meal or party after a wedding: · Where will you be having your reception?
a holiday taken by two people who have just got married: · We’re going to Barbados for our honeymoon.
Longman Language Activatorpeople who are related to you because of marriage someone who is related to you because of a marriage, for example, your mother-in-law is the mother of your wife or husband, and your sister-in-law is the sister of your wife or husband, or the wife of your brother: · Surprisingly, my mother-in-law and I get along very well.· My sister and brother-in-law are coming to visit next week.
someone who becomes your mother, sister, son etc when you or a person you are related to marries for a second time: · After my mother got remarried, it took a while to get used to having a stepfather.· She has two sisters and a stepbrother.
someone who is the child of one of your parents but not both of them: · Alyssa has a half-brother she's never met because her parents don't speak to each other any more.
if you are related to someone by marriage , they are married to someone in your family or you are married to someone in their family: · John's my cousin by marriage.
informal the parents of your husband or wife: · We lived with my in-laws until we had enough money to buy a house of our own.
ceremonies, celebrations etc when people get married an official ceremony at which two people get married, especially a religious ceremony: · Mom always cries at weddings.· After the wedding the bride and groom went straight to the airport for their flight to Fiji.white wedding British (=a marriage ceremony in a church in which the woman wears a white dress): · Are you going to have a traditional white wedding?wedding ring/ceremony/invitation etc: · Have you sent out the wedding invitations yet?
the ceremony at which two people are legally married, whether it involves religion or not: · City Hall keeps a record of all the births, deaths and marriages in the county.· The marriage took place without the bride's parents' consent.marriage certificate/licence: · We had to bring our marriage certificate to prove that we are married.
an event that follows a wedding ceremony in which there is a meal, speeches, and sometimes dancing: · We had our wedding reception in a local hotel.· I went to the church service, but not to the reception.
a holiday that two people go on when they have just got married: · We're thinking of going to Barbados for our honeymoon.on (your) honeymoon: · We came to Paris on our honeymoon, and fell in love with the place.honeymoon couple: · The Maldives is a popular destination for honeymoon couples.
British /bachelor party, also stag party American a party for a man and his male friends just before he gets married: · It's the best man's job to arrange the groom's stag night.· This is the club where John F. Kennedy had his bachelor party.
American a party for a woman and her female friends just before she gets married, when her friends give her gifts: · Melissa ended up getting three blenders at her bridal shower.
British a party for a woman and her female friends just before she gets married: · It's traditional to wear a silly hat on your hen night.
a relationship in which people are married the relationship between two people who are married: · She already has two children from a previous marriage.· Do you think marriage is still important to young people?· Over a third of all marriages now end in divorce.· What's the secret of a successful marriage?first/second etc marriage: · After a disastrous first marriage to a young soldier, Kylie didn't feel like rushing into another relationship.
formal the state of being married: · a couple bound in the state of holy matrimony
to be someone's husband or wife: · My uncle and his wife were married for 65 years.· Is she married?
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYadjectives The couple later had their marriage blessed in their local parish church. It was a happy but childless marriage. his efforts to save his failing marriage The scandal threatened to undermine the institution of the presidency. The baby’s birth was registered this morning. a memorial service for the disaster victims rumours of a marriage split
· Ours was a very happy marriage.
· The key to a successful marriage is friendship.
· After two failed marriages, she was not willing to risk marrying again.
· She had two children from her first marriage.
· Anne is his daughter from a previous marriage.
(=when your parents choose the person you will marry)· In their culture, there is a tradition of arranged marriage.
(=a marriage between two homosexual people, which is not legal in many places)· a proposal to allow same-sex marriage in the state
(=between people of different races or religions)· Her parents disapproved of mixed marriages.
(=between people of different races)· Interracial marriage is more common than it used to be.
· Why should I stay in a loveless marriage?
· It was a happy but childless marriage.
verbs· They have a happy marriage.
· Her three marriages all ended in divorce.
(=ends because of disagreements)· Liz’s marriage broke up after only eight months.
(=do things to try to stay together as a married couple)· They’re going to counseling to try to save their marriage.
formal (=ask someone to marry you)· He plucked up the courage to propose marriage to her.
formal (=make your marriage complete by having sex)· She claimed that he abused her and never consummated the marriage.
formal (=is officially ended by a court or church)· Henry VIII had his first marriage annulled.
phrases (=the end of it)· The breakup of her marriage had a devastating effect on her.
formal (=when someone asks you to marry them)· She rejected his proposal of marriage.
(=be born when your parents are not married)· Four in ten children are born outside marriage.
· Her religious beliefs prevented sex before marriage.
old-fashioned (=ask someone to marry you, or ask their parents for permission to marry)· He asked my father for my hand in marriage.
formal (=marriage seen as something that is very important and must be preserved and respected)
COMMON ERRORS ► Don’t say ‘marriage life’. Say married life.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The couple later had their marriage blessed in their local parish church.· problems caused by the increase in marital breakdown
· It was a beautiful wedding ceremony.
· He found a copy of his parents' marriage certificate.
It was a happy but childless marriage. (=agree to marry someone, form a relationship with them etc) Most of the marriages were contracted when the brides were very young.
Most of the marriages were contracted when the brides were very young. (=helping with marriage problems)· You should talk to a marriage counsellor about your problem.
· Five years later, their marriage ended in divorce.
his efforts to save his failing marriage· This dish is traditionally served at wedding feasts.
(=a happy and successful marriage)
The scandal threatened to undermine the institution of the presidency. (=a licence that allows two people to marry each other)· We went to get a marriage licence.
The baby’s birth was registered this morning.· She’s a relation by marriage because she married my cousin.
· How many women would be willing to care for distant relatives by marriage?
a memorial service for the disaster victims (=sex happening before marriage)
rumours of a marriage split· The ties of friendship that unite the two countries.
· Her parents had had an unhappy marriage.
· She wrote her own marriage vows.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· That and alcoholism and broken marriages.· Cathy was a too-real story about inner-city squalor, broken marriages, homelessness and a shot-to-hell welfare system.· Childless men, especially those with a broken marriage, were more likely to be ambitious, highly educated professionals.· And I've seen too much unhappiness caused by broken marriages.· The two broken marriages and then the obvious fact that he didn't think much of her.· She is entitled to sympathy for a broken marriage which was not purely of her doing.· Over 28 years I've had two broken marriages and broken homes, family and friends.
· Did the prospect of such an early marriage, of leaving school and cutting off her education disappoint the Al Ain bride-to-be?· This was amusing early in our marriage.· The less well-to-do may encourage early marriage and give priority to settling down to stable family life.· Among middle-class women, early marriage played a similar role in increasing risk of depression.· Furthermore social surveys had shown that early marriage, by unskilled workers could lead to poverty and destitution.· The correlation between the proportion of early marriages and later infecundity is positive and significant.· Those early days of marriage were lived modestly in a one-bedroom flat in Clapham, South London.· For example, early marriage has been noted as being associated with particular forms of abuse and neglect.
· But they are wrong to see gay marriage as trivial or frivolous.· In a test case, the state of Hawaii may become the first to legalize gay marriage, next year.· Would gay marriage weaken the standard variety?· Public opinion polls show as many as 70 percent of respondents oppose gay marriages.· He supports a ban on gay marriages.· But it looks like Clinton has been grandstanding on the subject of gay marriage.· Some people, even within the lesbian and gay community, are opposed to the idea of gay marriage.
· But, although she had progressed from happy childhood to happy marriage, all the while a conflict was raging within her.· She simply wanted a happy marriage.· His first wife christened Emily, affectionately and universally known as Pem died on Christmas Day 1988 after 53 years happy marriage.· Perfect looks, a happy marriage, a successful career.· Their happy marriage, their seeming perfection, was porcelain: they daren't raise their voices for fear of shattering it.· While this proves a very happy marriage, it also gives Eleonora the influence she desires.· No, Jack, man is a monogamous animal and there's no partnership on earth to touch a happy marriage.· It take s lot more than just physical attraction to make a lasting, happy marriage.
· Forcing her into a loveless marriage the same way he's forcing you pair into marrying the Costello sisters.· Her primary target is the arranged or loveless marriage.· They shared their responsibilities for the smooth running of Zone I with the enthusiasm of those bound by a loveless marriage.· He knew he was forcing his two sons into loveless marriages with the Costello sisters so that they could gain the Costello acres.· It told a story of an empty and loveless marriage, of dreams shattered and hope vanquished.
· There was also another son from a previous marriage.· Ties between the woman and her daughters by a previous marriage were almost nonexistent, the neighbor said.· She had been married 19 years; they had no children together, but each had a son from a previous marriage.· Steve Merrill, for example, has been the target of anonymous faxes about his previous marriages.· She had one son of her previous marriage.· Debon has three children from a previous marriage, who were reared by their father.· Married at twenty-two a woman eleven years older than himself, with one son by a previous marriage.· I heard she married a guy with two kids from a previous marriage.
· If he ever married, then it would be an unhappy marriage.· Perhaps this was a painful subject, what with his own unhappy marriage to Jane.· Leapor does not make the case that women are always unhappy in marriage.· Although in other poems Leapor shows that labouring class women can be desperately unhappy in marriage, she is not unequivocal.· At the centre is a man from South Carolina who is unhappy in marriage.· He revealed details of the royal couple's unhappy marriage and told of Diana's bulimia.· Most of us know some one who is unhappy about their marriage situation.
NOUN· It takes San Francisco marriage certificates for 1980 as its main data base.· The Law Society will require evidence such as a marriage certificate, deed poll or statutory declaration.· Your marriage certificate is a couple of pounds extra.· No baptism has been traced, though his marriage certificate records him as the son of John Crockford, schoolmaster.· We both believed that a marriage certificate wasn't that important.· A marriage certificate in London and the telephone book had done the work for him.· Spouses or newly-weds should carry a copy of their marriage certificate where passports and rickets are in different names.· His birth certificate, however, casts doubts on the marriage certificate's claim that a Charles Downer was his father.
· Society lays down the basic rules of the marriage contract.· On 15 May 1679 the marriage contract was signed at Lisbon.· In the event, as historians have observed, the spark was trivial - a man's signature on his marriage contract.· These are intimately bound up together, not least because of the way in which the marriage contract is defined.· Studies show that a typical marriage contract accords a couple 170 rights and responsibilities.· This provision could be written into the marriage contract.· The marriage contract is currently the most ambiguous of contracts.
· And even if there is a family counselling service or marriage guidance counselling there may be a waiting list.· This may be perfectly legitimate but not all problems can be referred away. 2 Refer the parents for marriage guidance counselling.· Courses on debt counselling followed together with requests for counselling courses to include bereavement and marriage guidance skills.
· While first-cousins are often favoured as marriage partners, a distinction is very often made between parallel and cross-cousins.· Both marriage partners must be willing.· Then comes the greatest loss of all: that of their marriage partner.· When seeking a marriage partner, intelligence is important to both sexes.· In addition members of the class usually find marriage partners from the same class.· A marriage partner can be a true soul-friend in this sense.· First, it may be difficult for them to relinquish the closeness and identification with their twin in favour of a marriage partner.· Obviously this typology has immense implications for educational methods, for communication generally, and for choice of marriage partner.
· She had given up counting the number of marriage proposals she had turned down over the years.· Consider, for example, the question of marriage proposals.· The refusal to accept a marriage proposal was often interpreted as a statement of superiority.· Then his girlfriend decides to accept the marriage proposal of an-other man.· Despite becoming constant companions, she says his marriage proposal still came as a shock.· Since it was swiftly followed by a marriage proposal it must have gone down fairly well.
· His father-in-law accused him of breaking his marriage vows and questioned his integrity as a Privy Councillor.· Fortunately for Mrs Bush, her marriage lasted and delivered the kind of lifetime security that marriage vows imply.
VERB· I realise the Lady Yolande is a noblewoman and that you were instrumental in arranging her marriage to the late King.· An arranged marriage of eighteen years came to an end when her abusive husband was murdered in a brawl.· In the first instance she arranges the marriage of Elgiva to the sensitive and naive king.· I could have arranged a good marriage for her.· I'd be like Emma and arrange a marriage for him, and with happier results.· So the betrothal was arranged and the marriage soon followed.· As Christians, arranged marriages were not customary in Mary's family.· Polygamy and arranged and forced marriages became the rule.
· There was so much news to exchange - careers followed, children born, marriages made.· Four out of 10 children were born outside marriage in 1999, compared with just one in 10 in 1979.
· But will they be able to break the marriage curse that seems to have fallen on the House of Windsor?· This new reality helped engender a more sensitive ecclesial approach to the plight of Catholics in broken marriages.· His father-in-law accused him of breaking his marriage vows and questioned his integrity as a Privy Councillor.· A recent piece of research shows what, exactly, breaks up their marriages.· The Isle of Skye promises to be a good spot to escape the rigors of work and a broken marriage.· Like Kathy, she had found great spiritual consolation at Holy Trinity in the wake of a broken marriage.· It was less cruel to end a short, passionate love affair than to break up a five-year marriage.
· In some ways ending a marriage is now easier than it has ever been.· It was there, said McGann, that she decided to end the marriage.· It seemed a funny way to end five years of marriage, packing socks and toothpaste and cold cream.· Was it really so easy to end ten years of marriage?· Easier divorce makes ending an unsatisfactory marriage a real possibility.· Concerned that his overweight body can not live up to feminine ideals, Dave's depression nearly ends his marriage.
· And I finally had to admit that I was failing in my marriage to you.· Laura believes that those of her sisters or cousins who defy the instructions are doomed to failed marriages.
· Harrison had come back to propose marriage.· She deflects the conversation, afraid that he will propose marriage.· Since then, they had maintained their relationship - a kind of teasing familiarity - but he had never proposed marriage again.· Harriet receives a letter from Robert Martin proposing marriage.· A year later he proposed marriage.· I told Oswin all of this and he proposed marriage.
· The truths that are recognized after marriage have very little to do with chamber pots.· The bill also would bar the federal government from recognizing homosexual marriages.· California law does not recognize gay marriages, but state appellate courts have adjudicated gay and lesbian palimony cases.· California now recognizes marriages performed in other states.· No state now recognizes gay marriages.· No state currently recognizes marriages between homosexuals.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► common-law marriage/husband/wife► be joined in marriage/holy matrimony► solemnize a marriage
- John's my cousin by marriage.
- a broken marriage
- And I've seen too much unhappiness caused by broken marriages.
- Cathy was a too-real story about inner-city squalor, broken marriages, homelessness and a shot-to-hell welfare system.
- Childless men, especially those with a broken marriage, were more likely to be ambitious, highly educated professionals.
- Like Kathy, she had found great spiritual consolation at Holy Trinity in the wake of a broken marriage.
- That and alcoholism and broken marriages.
- The Isle of Skye promises to be a good spot to escape the rigors of work and a broken marriage.
- The two broken marriages and then the obvious fact that he didn't think much of her.
- This new reality helped engender a more sensitive ecclesial approach to the plight of Catholics in broken marriages.
- Gerard Depardieu plays a French immigrant in a marriage of convenience with Andie McDowell.
- After all, it was a marriage of convenience for her.
- He told me he was in a marriage of convenience.
- It was a marriage of convenience.
- The Home Office had suspected that it was a marriage of convenience, to get the woman in.
- Though the diplomatic courtship is at an early stage, the Foreign Office is optimistic about such a marriage of convenience.
- And, for those who work in the travel and tourism industry, this tax could cost them their jobs.
- His plans to slash defence budgets by £6 billion would cost 100,000 more their jobs.
- I believe that it would cost many people their jobs and would cause far more damage than good.
- It could cost them their lives.
- The most far-reaching internal investigation in Phoenix police history cost four officers their jobs Friday for purchasing banned rifles under false pretenses.
- He finally asked for her hand in marriage.
- A fat person, down on his hands and knees, was doing something to the grass between the stones.
- Alan saw that she herself stroked the back of the child's head rhythmically with her right hand.
- But it does mean that weird opinions ought not to be rejected out of hand.
- But then it seemed as if the ball went through or over his hands as he came in front of Washington.
- It made our hands and fingers itch, but the tiny pieces of red flesh were delicious.
- Stories were told about how they had actually done considerable damage to some visiting fans when situations had got out of hand.
- The political opposition, on the other hand, is not convinced.
- When you fall forward, fully conscious or not, you put out your hands to break your fall.
- A year later he proposed marriage.
- Harriet receives a letter from Robert Martin proposing marriage.
- Harrison had come back to propose marriage.
- He falls in love with Clotilde and proposes marriage.
- I told Oswin all of this and he proposed marriage.
- She deflects the conversation, afraid that he will propose marriage.
- Since then, they had maintained their relationship - a kind of teasing familiarity - but he had never proposed marriage again.
- The argument based on the sanctity of life is essentially a matter of religious dogma.
- Their outlook on the sanctity of marriage is usually stricter.
- This man who believed in the sanctity of life, its life, not hers.
- What she experienced in her abusive marriage eventually forced her to re-examine Scripture concerning the sanctity of marriage and personhood.
WORD FAMILYnounmarriageremarriageadjectivemarried ≠ unmarriedmarriageableverbmarryremarry
1[countable, uncountable] the relationship between two people who are married, or the state of being married: She has three daughters from a previous marriage.marriage to his marriage to Marilyn Monroemarriage between In Denmark they have legalized marriage between gay couples.RegisterIn everyday English, when talking about the action of marrying, people usually use the expression get married rather than marriage: I think they’re too young for marriage. ➔ I think they’re too young to get married.2[countable] the ceremony in which two people get married SYN wedding: The marriage took place at St Bartholomew’s Church.3by marriage if you are related to someone by marriage, they are married to someone in your family, or you are married to someone in theirs: her cousin by marriageCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesa happy/unhappy marriage· Ours was a very happy marriage.a successful marriage· The key to a successful marriage is friendship.a failed/broken marriage· After two failed marriages, she was not willing to risk marrying again.somebody’s first/second etc marriage· She had two children from her first marriage.a previous marriage· Anne is his daughter from a previous marriage.an arranged marriage (=when your parents choose the person you will marry)· In their culture, there is a tradition of arranged marriage.a same-sex/gay marriage (=a marriage between two homosexual people, which is not legal in many places)· a proposal to allow same-sex marriage in the statea mixed marriage (=between people of different races or religions)· Her parents disapproved of mixed marriages.an interracial marriage (=between people of different races)· Interracial marriage is more common than it used to be.a loveless marriage· Why should I stay in a loveless marriage?a childless marriage· It was a happy but childless marriage.verbshave a long/happy etc marriage· They have a happy marriage.a marriage ends· Her three marriages all ended in divorce.a marriage breaks down/up (=ends because of disagreements)· Liz’s marriage broke up after only eight months.save your marriage (=do things to try to stay together as a married couple)· They’re going to counseling to try to save their marriage.propose marriage formal (=ask someone to marry you)· He plucked up the courage to propose marriage to her.consummate a marriage formal (=make your marriage complete by having sex)· She claimed that he abused her and never consummated the marriage.a marriage is annulled formal (=is officially ended by a court or church)· Henry VIII had his first marriage annulled.phrasesthe breakdown/breakup of somebody’s marriage (=the end of it)· The breakup of her marriage had a devastating effect on her.a proposal of marriage formal (=when someone asks you to marry them)· She rejected his proposal of marriage.be born outside marriage (=be born when your parents are not married)· Four in ten children are born outside marriage.sex before/outside marriage· Her religious beliefs prevented sex before marriage.ask for somebody’s hand in marriage old-fashioned (=ask someone to marry you, or ask their parents for permission to marry)· He asked my father for my hand in marriage.the sanctity of marriage formal (=marriage seen as something that is very important and must be preserved and respected)COMMON ERRORS ► Don’t say ‘marriage life’. Say married life.