Table of Contents
Definition of Open Marriage
(noun) A marriage in which each individual is free to enter into romantic or sexual relationships with others and thus have extramarital relationships.
Open Marriage Pronunciation
Syllabification: o·pen mar·riage
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /OH-puhn mAIR-ij/
- British English – /OH-puhn mAr-ij/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈoʊpən ˈmɛrɪʤ/
- British English – /ˈəʊpən ˈmærɪʤ/
Usage Notes
- Plural: open marriages
- A type of marriage, open relationship, and polyamory.
Additional Information
- Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “open” and “marriage” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Coltrane, Scott. 2004. Families and Society: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
- Walker, Rebecca, ed. 2009. One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk about Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Polyamory, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood, and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love. New York: Riverhead Books.
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Crooks, Robert, and Karla Baur. 2014. Our Sexuality. 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Cite the Definition of Open Marriage
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “open marriage.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/open-marriage/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
open marriage. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/open-marriage/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “open marriage.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/open-marriage/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“open marriage.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/open-marriage/>.