Noun

Singular marriage

Plural marriages

marriage (plural marriages)

1. The state of being married.
2. The union of two people, to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.
3. A wedding.

   You are cordially invited to the marriage of James Smith and Jane Doe.

4. A close union.
5. A joining of two parts.
6. (poker slang) A king and a queen as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found. Such a union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the marital structure created is known as wedlock.

People marry for many reasons, most often including one or more of the following: legal, social, emotional, economical, spiritual, and religious. These might include arranged marriages, family obligations, the legal establishment of a nuclear family unit, the legal protection of children and public declaration of love.

Marriage practices are very diverse across cultures, may take many forms, and are often formalized by a ceremony called a wedding. The act of marriage usually creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved. In some societies these obligations also extend to certain family members of the married persons. Almost all cultures that recognize marriage also recognize adultery as a violation of the terms of marriage.

External recognition can manifest in a variety of ways. Some examples include the state, a religious authority, or both. It is often viewed as a contract. Civil marriage is the legal concept of marriage as a governmental institution irrespective of religious affiliation, in accordance with marriage laws of the jurisdiction. If recognized by the state, by the religion(s) to which the parties belong or by society in general, the act of marriage changes the personal and social status of the individuals who enter into it.

Quotes about marriage.

Contents

• 1 Sourced
• 2 Unsourced
• 3 Unknown / Anonymous
• 4 External links

Sourced

• Marriage is unusual in that the more I see of it, the less I believe in it.
  • Jacob M. Appel, The Mistress of Wholesome

• A husband is what is left of a lover, after the nerve has been extracted.
  • Helen Rowland, A Guide to Men

• Marriage is the dark side of the honeymoon.
  • Leonid S. Sukhorukov, All About Everything (2005), p. 92

• Some marriages give bachelors a master's degree.
  • Leonid S. Sukhorukov, All About Everything (2005), p. 93

• Marge: Homer, is this the way you pictured married life? Homer: Yup, pretty much. Except we drove around in a van solving mysteries.
  • The Simpsons and others.

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Mon Feb 15 00:58:52 2010