Marriage
6 dictionary results for: Marriage
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
mar·riage 
[mar-ij] Pronunciation Key
[mar-ij] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc. |
| 2. | the state, condition, or relationship of being married; wedlock: a happy marriage. |
| 3. | the legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of a man and woman to live as husband and wife, including the accompanying social festivities: to officiate at a marriage. |
| 4. | a relationship in which two people have pledged themselves to each other in the manner of a husband and wife, without legal sanction: trial marriage; homosexual marriage. |
| 5. | any close or intimate association or union: the marriage of words and music in a hit song. |
| 6. | a formal agreement between two companies or enterprises to combine operations, resources, etc., for mutual benefit; merger. |
| 7. | a blending or matching of different elements or components: The new lipstick is a beautiful marriage of fragrance and texture. |
| 8. | Cards. a meld of the king and queen of a suit, as in pinochle. Compare royal marriage. |
| 9. | a piece of antique furniture assembled from components of two or more authentic pieces. |
| 10. | Obsolete. the formal declaration or contract by which act a man and a woman join in wedlock. |
—Synonyms 3. matrimony. Marriage, wedding, nuptials are terms for the ceremony uniting couples in wedlock. Marriage is the simple and usual term, without implications as to circumstances and without emotional connotations: to announce the marriage of a daughter. Wedding has rather strong emotional, even sentimental, connotations, and suggests the accompanying festivities, whether elaborate or simple: a beautiful wedding; a reception after the wedding. Nuptials is a formal and lofty word applied to the ceremony and attendant social events; it does not have emotional connotations but strongly implies surroundings characteristic of wealth, rank, pomp, and grandeur: royal nuptials. It appears frequently on newspaper society pages chiefly as a result of the attempt to avoid continual repetition of marriage and wedding. 5. alliance, confederation; weld, junction.
—Antonyms 1. divorce.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| mar·riage
(mār'ĭj) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English mariage, from Old French, from marier, to marry; see marry1.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
marriage
marriage
1297, from O.Fr. mariage (12c.), from V.L. *maritaticum, from L. maritatus, pp. of maritatre "to wed, marry, give in marriage" (see marry).
"When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition until death do them part." [G.B. Shaw]Marriage counselling first recorded 1945. Marriage bed, fig. of marital intercourse generally, is attested from 1590.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| marriage | |
noun | |
| 1. | the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce); "a long and happy marriage"; "God bless this union" |
| 2. | two people who are married to each other; "his second marriage was happier than the first"; "a married couple without love" |
| 3. | the act of marrying; the nuptial ceremony; "their marriage was conducted in the chapel" |
| 4. | a close and intimate union; "the marriage of music and dance"; "a marriage of ideas" |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Marriage
Mar"riage\, n. [OE. mariage, F. mariage. See Marry, v. t.]1. The act of marrying, or the state of being married; legal union of a man and a woman for life, as husband and wife; wedlock; matrimony. Marriage is honorable in all. --Heb. xiii. 4. 2. The marriage vow or contract. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 3. A feast made on the occasion of a marriage. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son. --Matt. xxii. 2. 4. Any intimate or close union. Marriage brokage. (a) The business of bringing about marriages. (b) The payment made or demanded for the procurement of a marriage. Marriage favors, knots of white ribbons, or bunches of white flowers, worn at weddings. Marriage settlement (Law), a settlement of property in view, and in consideration, of marriage. Syn: Matrimony; wedlock; wedding; nuptials. Usage: Marriage, Matrimony, Wedlock. Marriage is properly the act which unites the two parties, and matrimony the state into which they enter. Marriage is, however, often used for the state as well as the act. Wedlock is the old Anglo-Saxon term for matrimony.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Marriage
Mar"riage\, n. [OE. mariage, F. mariage. See Marry, v. t.]1. The act of marrying, or the state of being married; legal union of a man and a woman for life, as husband and wife; wedlock; matrimony. Marriage is honorable in all. --Heb. xiii. 4. 2. The marriage vow or contract. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 3. A feast made on the occasion of a marriage. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son. --Matt. xxii. 2. 4. Any intimate or close union. Marriage brokage. (a) The business of bringing about marriages. (b) The payment made or demanded for the procurement of a marriage. Marriage favors, knots of white ribbons, or bunches of white flowers, worn at weddings. Marriage settlement (Law), a settlement of property in view, and in consideration, of marriage. Syn: Matrimony; wedlock; wedding; nuptials. Usage: Marriage, Matrimony, Wedlock. Marriage is properly the act which unites the two parties, and matrimony the state into which they enter. Marriage is, however, often used for the state as well as the act. Wedlock is the old Anglo-Saxon term for matrimony.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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