wedlock

noun wed·lock \ ˈwed-ˌläk \

Updated on: 20 May 2018

Definition of wedlock

: the state of being married : marriage, matrimony

— out of wedlock

: with the natural parents not legally married to each other

See wedlock defined for English-language learners

See wedlock defined for kids

Examples of wedlock in a Sentence

joined the happy couple in holy wedlock

Recent Examples of wedlock from the Web

Elle Fanning plays the author and Douglas Booth her out-of-wedlock lover and eventual husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

— ben kenigsberg, New York Times, "Summer 2018 Movie Release Schedule," 4 May 2018
The Story: Dino Sajudin, a former doorman of a Trump building, offered the National Enquirer a tip: back in the ‘80s, Trump may have fathered a child out of wedlock with a former employee.

— margaret hartmann, Daily Intelligencer, "Every Embarrassing Story Michael Cohen Tried to Squash," 17 Apr. 2018
Reporters for the National Enquirer got a tip from Dino Sajudin, a former doorman of a Trump building, that Trump may have fathered a child out of wedlock back in the 1980s with a former employee of his.

— andrew prokop, Vox, "A theory on why the FBI raided Michael Cohen," 12 Apr. 2018
More marches won’t address out-of-wedlock childbearing.

— jason l. riley, WSJ, "Martin Luther King: ‘We Can’t Keep On Blaming the White Man’," 3 Apr. 2018
Another great stroke of luck arrived in the spring of 1992, when Vice President Dan Quayle delivered a family-values speech scolding the character—who, remember, is fictional—for having a baby out of wedlock.

— rebecca keegan, HWD, "They’re Back! Murphy Brown and Cagney & Lacey Return to the Small Screen in the #MeToo Era," 30 Mar. 2018
These plans were dropped after it was learned that Miss Colvin was expecting a child out of wedlock.

— jenn m. jackson, Teen Vogue, "The History Lesson About Black Women That You Never Got," 26 Mar. 2018
Kaye was in her early 20s when her friend committed suicide after being disfellowshipped for getting pregnant out of wedlock.

— tresa baldas, Detroit Free Press, "Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses break silence on shunning: 'My mother treats me like I'm dead'," 18 Mar. 2018
In Singapore nearly all children are born and raised in wedlock, starkly different from what now happens in the West.

— The Economist, "LettersLetters to the editor," 25 Jan. 2018

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