morganatic
/mɔːɡəˈnætɪk/US/mɔɹɡəˈnætɪk/
morganatic adjective: designating a marriage (or the wife involved) between a man of higher rank and a woman of lower rank, often having various legal repercussions (typically that such a wife has no claim on the husband's possessions or title). It was not an aspect of English law, but was common in other royal houses, especially in Germany.
Adjective
morganatic (not comparable)
- Designating a marriage (or the wife involved) between a man of higher rank and a woman of lower rank, often having various legal repercussions (typically that such a wife has no claim on the husband's possessions or title). It was not an aspect of English law, but was common in other royal houses, especially in Germany.
- Francis Ferdinand's marriage was a morganatic alliance, and in consequence of a declaration which he made when contracting it, his children do not inherit his rights to the Austrian crown.1914 June 29, “Assassination of the Austrian royal heir and wife”, in The Guardian
- we have this day repudiated our former spouse and have bestowed our royal hand upon the princess Selene, the splendour of the night. (The former morganatic spouse of Bloom is hastily removed in the Black Maria.)1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
Examples of morganatic in a sentence
- Because of her noble birth, she bitterly resented her position as a morganatic wife.1941, Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: The Record of a Journey through Yugoslavia in 1937...
- Louis's association with the pious widow, Madame de Maintenon (with whom he contracted a morganatic marriage in 1684) had led to a new tone of piety, even prudery, at court.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 19:
- After her death, he arranged a morganatic marriage with Anna in 1757, which made him even more vulnerable to charges of sexual impropriety.2006, Marsha Keith Schuchard, Why Mrs Blake Cried, Pimlico, published 2007, page 149:
Origin of morganatic
From New Latin morganāticus, from the Medieval Latin phrase mātrimōnium ad morganāticum, from Proto-Germanic *murgnagebō (“morning gift”) (whence Old English morgenġiefu).
Words formed from morganatic
Phrases with morganatic
Questions about morganatic
- What does morganatic mean?
- Morganatic means designating a marriage (or the wife involved) between a man of higher rank and a woman of lower rank, often having various legal repercussions (typically that such a wife has no claim on the husband's possessions or title). It was not an aspect of English law, but was common in other royal houses, especially in Germany.
- How do you use morganatic in a sentence?
- Because of her noble birth, she bitterly resented her position as a morganatic wife.
- What part of speech is morganatic?
- Morganatic is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce morganatic?
- Morganatic is pronounced /mɔːɡəˈnætɪk/ (UK).
Words near morganatic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: morganatic (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)-Eleanorrrrrrrrrr-morganatic.wav.
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