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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

polygamy.

The condition of having more than one spouse or marriage partner at one time.

8 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pəˈlɪɡ.ə.mi/
  1. The condition of having more than one spouse or marriage partner at one time.

    countable · uncountable
    Are there countries where polygamy is legal for both men and women?
  2. Synonym of polygyny (“marriage of a man to more than one wife, the practice of having several wives at the same time”).

    countable · especially · often · uncountable
    Though Islam allows polygamy, it is frowned upon in many contemporary Muslim societies.
  3. The state or habit of having more than one sexual mate.

    countable · uncountable
    An insect queen actually practices polygamy only one day, while for an alpha-male defending his harem is the very essence of both his status and polygamy.
  4. The condition or state of a plant which bears both perfect and unisexual flowers.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Recorded since 1591, from Late Latin polygamia, from Ancient Greek πολυγαμία (polugamía), itself from πολύγαμος (polúgamos, “married to many”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + γάμος (gámos, “marriage”). Relates to modern prefix and suffix poly- + -gamy.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.