marriage

Syllables: marr·iage/ˈmæɹɪd͡ʒ//ˈmæɹɪd͡ʒ/

marriage noun: the state of being married.

Noun

marriage (countable and uncountable, plural marriages)

The state of being married.
- You should enter marriage for love.
Synonyms:

wedlock
A union of two or more people that creates a family tie and carries legal, social, or religious rights and responsibilities.
- By his marriage to his two wives, Tapuwae quietly strengthened all of the pas of the Wairoa district, as many of them came under his control through these unions.1944, Tiaki Hikawera Mitira, Takitimu, page 123
- One layman in Buddha's time decided to embrace celibacy and relinquished his marriage vows to his four wives. When he asked them what they wanted in terms of a settlement, one said, […]1990, John Stevens, Lust for enlightenment: Buddhism and sex
Synonyms:

alliance
1. (sometimes, specifically) The union of only two people, to the exclusion of all others.
  - My grandparents' marriage lasted for forty years.
  - Pat and Leslie's marriage to each other lasted forty years.
2. (often, specifically) The union of two people of opposite sex, to the exclusion of all others.
A wedding; a ceremony in which people wed.
- You are cordially invited to the marriage of James Smith and Jane Doe.
(figuratively) A close union.
- And this marriage of poetry and history remained a solid relationship throughout the classical period.2000, Edmund E. Jacobitti, “The Classical Heritage in Machiavelli's Histories”, in Vickie B. Sullivan, editor, The comedy and tragedy of Machiavelli: essays on the literary works, page 181
- Above all, we will no longer have to feel qualms about the marriage of art and money. We will no longer have to wonder if it is possible to separate the esthetic value of an art work from its commercial value.2003, Paul Mattick, Art in its time: theories and practices of modern aesthetics, page 105
(figuratively) A joining of two parts.
A king and a queen, when held as a hand in some versions of poker or melded in pinochle.
In solitaire or patience games, the placing a card of the same suit on the next one above or below it in value.
(slang) A homosexual relationship between male prisoners.

Proper noun capitalized: Marriage

Marriage (plural Marriages)

A surname

marriage meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

marriage in Hindi

state of being married: शादी śādī, विवाह vivāh, ब्याह byāh
union of two people: निकाह nikāh
wedding: विवाह vivāh, शादी śādī, लग्न lagna, कल्याण kalyāṇ, मंगल maṅgal, ब्याह byāh

marriage in Tamil

state of being married: கல்யாணம் kalyāṇam, திருமணம் tirumaṇam, விவாகம் vivākam
wedding: திருமணம் tirumaṇam, கல்யாணம் kalyāṇam

marriage in Marathi

state of being married: लग्न lagna
wedding: लग्न lagna

marriage in Urdu

state of being married: شادی śādī, اِزْدِواج izdivāj, نِکاح nikāh, بِیاہ biyāh, وِواہ vivāh
union of two people: نِکاح nikāh
wedding: وِواہ vivāh, شادی śādī

More languagesFewer languages

marriage in Bengali: শাদি śadi, বিবাহ bibaho, বিয়ে biẏe
marriage in Telugu: పెండ్లి peṇḍli, వివాహము vivāhamu
marriage in Malayalam: വിവാഹജീവിതം vivāhajīvitaṁ, വിവാഹം vivāhaṁ, കല്യാണം kalyāṇaṁ, മാംഗല്യം māṅgalyaṁ
marriage in Kannada: ಮದುವೆ maduve
marriage in Punjabi: ਵਿਆਹ viāha, ویاہ veyāh, شادی śādī
marriage in Gujarati: લગ્ન lagna
marriage in Odia: ବିବାହ bibāha
marriage in Sanskrit: विवाह vivāha
marriage in Assamese: বিয়া bia
marriage in Nepali: बिहा bihā
marriage in Pashto: واده wādǝ, نکاح nekāh, توى toy
marriage in Tagalog: kasal, pagkakasal
marriage in Arabic: زَوَاج zawāj, نِكَاح nikāḥ, عُرْس ʕurs, زِفَاف zifāf
marriage in Malay: perkahwinan, pernikahan
marriage in Indonesian: pernikahan, perkawinan, nikah
marriage in Thai: การสมรส gaan-sǒm-rót, การแต่งงาน gaan-dtɛ̀ɛng-ngaan, งานแต่งงาน ngaan-dtɛ̀ɛng-ngaan
marriage in Vietnamese: hôn nhân, sự cưới xin, sự kết hôn, lể cưới
marriage in Myanmar: စုတ် cut, လက်ထပ်ခြင်း lakhtaphkrang:, အိမ်ထောင် imhtaung, အိမ်ထောင်ရေး imhtaung-re:
Sindhi: विहांउ
Kashmiri: کھانٛدَر khāndar, نیتھٕر nēthụr

Examples of marriage in a sentence

The account of the loss of the blessing of his father Isaac appears immediately after Esau's marriage to his Hittite wives.1995, Edith Deen, All of the women of the Bible, page 275
In an open marriage, the partners are free to have extramarital relationships or sex without betraying one another.2009, Charles Zastrow, Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People, →ISBN, page 30:
Marriages are arranged for whatever purpose is suitable.2013, David Gilman, Master of War
"I have a patient right now whose marriage proved to be a tragedy.1936, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 42:

All 40 example sentences with marriage

Synonyms of marriage

Antonyms

divorce

All synonyms and antonyms of marriage

Forms of marriage

Noun
plural	marriages
alternative form (obsolete)	mariage
Proper noun
plural	Marriages

Plural of marriage: marriages

Origin of marriage

From Middle English mariage, from Old French mariage, from marier (“to marry”), from Latin marītō (“marry”, verb, literally “give in marriage”), from marītus (“lover”, “nuptial”), from mas (“male, masculine, of the male sex”). Equivalent to marry + -age. Doublet of maritage. Displaced native Old English sinsċipe.

Words formed from marriage

Phrases with marriage

73 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with marriage

Questions about marriage

What does marriage mean?: Marriage means the state of being married.
What is marriage in Hindi?: Marriage in Hindi is शादी (śādī), विवाह (vivāh), ब्याह (byāh). See Marriage meaning in Hindi.
How do you use marriage in a sentence?: The account of the loss of the blessing of his father Isaac appears immediately after Esau's marriage to his Hittite wives.
What part of speech is marriage?: Marriage can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce marriage?: Marriage is pronounced /ˈmæɹɪd͡ʒ/ (UK).
What is the plural of marriage?: The plural of marriage is marriages.

Words near marriage in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: marriage (page history and authors); Marriage (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-marriage.ogg, en-us-marriage.ogg.

Cite this entry: “marriage.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/marriage. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.