cohabit

co·hab·it | \ (ˌ)kō-ˈha-bət

How to pronounce cohabit (audio)

\

cohabited; cohabiting; cohabits

Definition of cohabit

intransitive verb

1 : to live together as or as if a married couple They cohabited in a small apartment.

2a : to live together or in company buffaloes cohabiting with crossbred cows — Biol. Abstracts

b : to exist together … two strains in his philosophy … cohabit in each of his major works.— Justus Buchler So riches seemed to provoke their own discomfort, and affluence cohabited with anxiety.— Simon Schama

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Examples of cohabit in a Sentence

They cohabited in a small apartment in the city.

Recent Examples on the Web For all the martial metaphors that politicians on both sides of the Atlantic like to invoke, humanity is not so much at war with the virus as uneasily, unwillingly cohabiting with it, with nowhere more hospitable to escape to. — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, "A Queasy London Celebrates the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of V-E Day," 9 May 2020 The Pew data show, for instance, that the chief reason cohabiting partners offer for not being married is a lack of financial readiness. — BostonGlobe.com, "Some 59 percent of those 18 to 44 have had a live-in partner without being married, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, compared with 50 percent who’ve walked down the aisle. That’s a reversal from as recently as 2002, when more Americans in that age bracket had experienced marriage.," 21 Nov. 2019 One big difference: Sometimes that means the residents will be cohabiting with other preppers, not just their immediate family. — Carolyn Said, SFChronicle.com, "Billionaire bunkers: Where the elite may ride out the coronavirus pandemic," 25 Mar. 2020 After two years of cohabiting as friends, Mr. Monahan and Ms. Hamel became romantically involved for a year, then broke up. — Joanne Kaufman, New York Times, "Roommates Forever," 31 Jan. 2020 The Pew data show, for instance, that the chief reason cohabiting partners offer for not being married is a lack of financial readiness. — BostonGlobe.com, "Some 59 percent of those 18 to 44 have had a live-in partner without being married, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, compared with 50 percent who’ve walked down the aisle. That’s a reversal from as recently as 2002, when more Americans in that age bracket had experienced marriage.," 21 Nov. 2019 Plenty of cohabiting relationships have more commitment and clarity than plenty of marriages. — Belinda Luscombe, Time, "More People Think It's Fine for Unwed Couples to Live Together. Here's Why Many Still Think Marriage Is Better," 6 Nov. 2019 The Pew data show, for instance, that the chief reason cohabiting partners offer for not being married is a lack of financial readiness. — Washington Post, "Married people have happier, healthier relationships than unmarried couples who live together, data show," 20 Nov. 2019 The survey’s respondents, 57% of whom were married and 9% of whom were cohabiting, had notably different levels of trust in their partners. — Belinda Luscombe, Time, "More People Think It's Fine for Unwed Couples to Live Together. Here's Why Many Still Think Marriage Is Better," 6 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cohabit.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

16 May 2020

Cite this Entry

“Cohabit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cohabit. Accessed 29 May. 2020.

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