wedlock
Other forms: wedlocks
The noun wedlock means marriage; you might describe your newly-married sister as "entering the magical state of wedlock."
Wedlock is an old-fashioned word for matrimony, the state of being married. It comes up most often in the phrase "out of wedlock," when gossipers are describing a baby born to unmarried parents. Even though wedlock sounds like it would have a root meaning of "locked into marriage," it actually comes from the Old English wedlac, from wed, "pledge," and lac, which denotes action.
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the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)synonyms: marriage, matrimony, spousal relationship, uniontypes:bigamyhaving two spouses at the same timecommon-law marriagea marriage relationship created by agreement and cohabitation rather than by ceremonyendogamy, inmarriage, intermarriagemarriage within one's own tribe or group as required by custom or lawexogamy, intermarriagemarriage to a person belonging to a tribe or group other than your own as required by custom or lawmarriage of conveniencea marriage for expediency rather than lovemisalliancean unsuitable alliance (especially with regard to marriage)monandrythe state of having only one husband at a timeopen marriagea marriage in which each partner is free to enter into extraneous sexual relationships without guilt or jealousy from the othercuckoldomthe state of a husband whose wife has committed adulterypolygamyhaving more than one spouse at a timesigeha Shiite tradition of temporary marriage permitted in Iran that allows a couple to specify the terms of their relationship; can last from a few minutes to 99 yearsmesalliancea marriage with a person of inferior social statusmonogynyhaving only one wife at a timeserial monogamya succession of short monogamous relationships (as by someone who undergoes multiple divorces)polyandryhaving more than one husband at a timepolygynyhaving more than one wife at a timetype of:marital statusthe condition of being married or unmarried
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Vocabulary lists containing wedlock
Most of these words are built from two common terms, and yet their meanings don't necessarily add up to what you'd expect. Even if you recognise and use these terms sometimes, do you know their origins and definitions?