cohabit
/kəʊˈhabɪt
/verb (cohabits, cohabiting, cohabited) [no object]
1Live together and have a sexual relationship without being married: an increasing number of couples are cohabiting Mary is now cohabiting with Paul...
- The person was cohabiting with the mother of the child in a relationship of some permanence at the time of the birth of the child.
- Lately the idea of being married or cohabiting with someone has been rather appealing, strictly from an convenience/economics point of view.
- He was dismissed after the evangelical vicar discovered that he had long been cohabiting with his long-standing partner.
Synonyms
live together, live with, live (together) as husband/man and wife, sleep with, sleep together
informal shack up with
informal, dated live in sin, live over the brush
2Coexist: animals that can cohabit with humans thrive...
- I have no desire to cohabit with a hound, however high-bred.
- How will the general cohabit with a parliament largely hostile to him?
- This film seems intended to suggest that he preferred to cohabit with animals rather than American citizens during the Vietnam War.
Derivatives
cohabitant
- Now we've got a culture that has got a larger number of cohabitants than the 1960s, and that's because we have a generation of kids who've lived with divorce.
- My cohabitants at the motel had warned me against accepting free drinks (‘they spike them’).
- Given that in some countries the rights of cohabitants are recognised in law, the most sensible thing for politicians to do would be to turn this fiction into reality.
cohabitee
/ noun ...- There is still in England no legal recognition for a common-law relationship with partners or cohabitees, though in some areas such as pensions there have been concessions.
- Most unmarried couples eventually decide to get married or split up, suggesting that only a minority of couples wish to stay as cohabitees for their entire lives together.
- There is currently no recognised legal state for cohabitees.
cohabiter
- Despite the meticulous period setting, the production is not about 1956 but about Jimmy Porter and his similarly intriguing cohabiters.
- Because of the lack of any relevant legislation dealing with the rights of cohabiters, she would be in serious difficulties if he were to die suddenly.
- About 69% of the couples were living together prior to marriage, with the cohabiters living together an average of 21 months.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin cohabitare, from co- 'together' + habitare 'dwell'.
Rhymes
- phrenicolienal ligament
- phrenicosplenic ligament
- phrenicotomy
- phrenitic
- phrenitis
- phrenocolic
- phrenogastric
- phrenogram
- phrenograph
- phrenologic
- phrenological
- phrenologically
- phrenologise
- phrenologist
- phrenologize
- phrenology
- phreno-magnetic
- phreno-magnetism
- phreno-mesmerism
- phrenopathic
- phrenopathy
- phrenosin
- phrenosine
- phrenosplenic
- phrenotropic