bigamy
Syllables: bi·ga·my/ˈbɪɡəmi/
bigamy noun: the state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously.
Noun
bigamy (countable and uncountable, plural bigamies)
- The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously.
- But now we may find in S. Margarets life, who it is that is Chriſtes wife: whereby we are ſo much wiſer than we were before. But looke in the life of S. Katharine, in the golden legend, and you ſhall find that he was alſo married to S. Katharine, and that our ladie made the marriage, &c. An...1584, “The Storie of Saint Margaret Prooued to be Both Ridiculous and Impious in Euerie Point”, in The Discoverie of Witchcraft, […], London: […] William Brome, →OCLC, book XV (The Exposition of...
- A beauty-waining and diſtreſſed widow [Elizabeth Woodville], / Euen in the afternoone of her beſt daies / Made priſe and purchaſe of his [Edward IV's] luſtfull eye, / Seduct the pitch and height of al his thoughts, / To baſe declenſion and loathd bigamie, / By her in his vnlawfull bed he got.c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC...
- A second marriage after the death of a spouse.
- Bigamie was a counterplea (deuiſed at yͤ Councell of Lyons, vpon mislike of ſecond marriage) to be obiected, when the priſoner demaundeth the benefite of the Clergie, to wit, his Book, as namely to ſay, that he which demaundeth the priuiledge of the Clergie, was married to ſuch a woman at ſuch a...1624, [John Rastell], “Bigamie”, in Les Termes de la Ley: Or, Certaine Difficult and Obscure VVords and Termes of the Common Lawes of This Realme Expounded. […], new edition, London: […] Company of...
- Synonyms:
- deuterogamy, digamy
bigamy meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
bigamy in Tamil
- இருதுணை மணம், இருமுறைமணம்
bigamy in Bengali
- দ্বিপত্নীকত্ব, দ্বিপত্নীত্ব
bigamy in Malayalam
- സമ്പ്രദായം
bigamy in Kannada
- ದ್ವಿಪತಿತ್ವ, ದ್ವಿಪತ್ನೀತ್ವ
More languagesFewer languages
- bigamy in Tagalog
- bigamiya, pagdadalawang-asawa
- bigamy in Arabic
- تَعَدُّد اَلْأَزْوَاج taʕaddud al-ʔazwāj, تَعَدُّد اَلزَّوْجَات taʕaddud az-zawjāt
- bigamy in Malay
- bigami
- bigamy in Persian
- دو زن داری dô zan dâri, تعدد زوجات ta'addod-e zowjât
Examples of bigamy in a sentence
- For instance: a crime is proved,—say, bigamy; turn to letter B.—and there you have it.1847 March 30, Herman Melville, “Taloo Chapel.—Holding Court in Polynesia.”, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […]...
- Anita laughed and hugged him and told him he was the best kid in the world, if he was fifteen years older she'd commit bigamy and marry him.1999, Stephen King, “Hearts in Atlantis”, in Hearts in Atlantis, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, published November...
Synonyms of bigamy
Forms of bigamy
| plural | bigamies |
|---|---|
| alternative form | bigamie |
Origin of bigamy
From Middle English bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously, bigamy; second marriage; marrying a widow or widower”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman bigamie and Middle French bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously; second marriage; marrying a widow or widower”) (modern French bigamie (“bigamy”)), and its etymon Late Latin bigamia (“having two spouses simultaneously; second marriage”), from Late Latin, Latin bigamus (“bigamous”) + -ia (variant of -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns)). Bigamus is derived from bis (“twice, two times”) + Ancient Greek γάμος (gámos, “marriage; matrimony”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ǵem- (“to marry”)). The English word is analysable as bi- + -gamy.
Words formed from bigamy
Questions about bigamy
- What does bigamy mean?
- Bigamy means the state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously.
- What is bigamy in Tamil?
- Bigamy in Tamil is இருதுணை மணம், இருமுறைமணம். See Bigamy meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use bigamy in a sentence?
- For instance: a crime is proved,—say, bigamy; turn to letter B.—and there you have it.
- What part of speech is bigamy?
- Bigamy is a noun.
- How do you pronounce bigamy?
- Bigamy is pronounced /ˈbɪɡəmi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bigamy?
- The plural of bigamy is bigamies.
Words near bigamy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bigamy (page history and authors); bigamy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bigamy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bigamy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bigamy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-bigamy.wav, En-us-bigamy.mp3.
Cite this entry: “bigamy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bigamy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.