concubine

noun con·cu·bine \ ˈkäŋ-kyu̇-ˌbīn , ˈkän- , -kyü- \

|Updated on: 10 Jul 2018

Examples: concubine in a Sentence

Definition of concubine

: a woman with whom a man cohabits without being married: such as

a : one having a recognized social status in a household below that of a wife

b : mistress 4a

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Examples of concubine in a Sentence

spent an exorbitant sum on furnishing living quarters for his concubine

Recent Examples of concubine from the Web

According to former follower Niki Lopez, who later testified against York in court, children were forced to live separately from their parents and were beaten with wire hangers and broom sticks and sometimes starved by York’s concubines.

— christine pelisek, PEOPLE.com, "The Story Behind a Black Supremacist Cult That Lived in Egyptian-Themed Compound in Rural Georgia," 6 July 2018
Historian Mario De Valdes y Cocom argues that Charlotte was directly descended from a black branch of the Portuguese royal family: Alfonso III and his concubine, Ouruana, a black Moor.

— deneen l. brown, Washington Post, "Meghan Markle, Queen Charlotte and the wedding of Britain’s first mixed-race royal," 15 May 2018
The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu) Set in a dystopian future where people are unable to get pregnant, the few woman who can get pregnant are forced to become concubines and bear children for the upper class.

— noelle devoe, Seventeen, "10 Best TV Shows of 2017," 15 Dec. 2017
Little girls were also purchased and used as household slaves until old enough to become prostitutes or concubines.

— gary kamiya, San Francisco Chronicle, "Shame of the city: When Chinese sex slaves were trafficked in SF," 5 Jan. 2018
Her father, a former rebel commander, had eight wives and numerous concubines.

— The Economist, "The perils of polygamyThe link between polygamy and war," 16 Dec. 2017
The Walking Dead, which in the last three years has killed off almost every person of color and turned the rest into concubines and cuckolds?

— jason johnson, The Root, "In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, John Boyega, People of Color Get to Shine in a Galaxy Far, Far Away," 15 Dec. 2017
The cast also includes Geoffrey Barnes in the dual role of the Sheriff of Nottingham, Ernaisja Curry as a wily concubine, Samantha Russell as one of the Merry People, along with Brandon Burton and Greg Mallios as castle guards.

— david lyman, Cincinnati.com, "'Marian or the True Tale of Robin Hood' a feather in Know Theatre's cap," 29 July 2017
The patriarch of Comfort — church, state and pharmaceutical industry all at once — is a philosophical fellow with a droopy mustache and a retinue of pregnant concubines.

— a. o. scott, New York Times, "Review: Cannibalism, Hallucinogens and Keanu: ‘The Bad Batch’ Has It All," 22 June 2017

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