marriage
/ˈmarɪdʒ
/noun
1The legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship (historically and in some jurisdictions specifically a union between a man and a woman): a happy marriage the children from his first marriage [as modifier]: marriage vows...
- A man who was in a coma for six weeks after a road accident and can't remember his wedding has renewed his marriage vows to his wife who is helping him back to health.
- It is anyway a false distinction to divide marriages into the happy and the unhappy, and to say that when they are happy, ownership is unimportant.
- While Bernadette and Patrick did exchange wedding vows, their marriage is not legally binding.
1.1 [mass noun] The state of being married: they were celebrating 50 years of marriage...
- But with large numbers of unions still ending in divorce and many couples choosing to cohabit and raise children out of wedlock, has marriage had its day?
- People often pose the question in terms of social equality, but marriage is also an institution of economic rights.
- It's a very American piece, like a sketch show, a revue about love, dating, marriage, children, divorce, death, so we go from being eight to 80 in the show.
2A combination or mixture of elements: her music is a marriage of funk, jazz, and hip-hop...
- The marriage between jazz music and dance has always been a passionate one.
- What does the marriage of these two elements produce?
- A politico-military marriage combines lethal and nonlethal force to convince an enemy to accede to the victor's will.
2.1(In bezique and other card games) a combination of a king and queen of the same suit.
Phrases
by marriage
in marriage
Origin
Middle English: from Old French mariage, from marier 'marry'.