marriage of convenience
5
5.3
- noun
- /ˈmɛrɪdʒ əv kənˈviːniəns/
:
matrimonio de conveniencia
- She entered into a marriage of convenience to help her family financially.
Examples
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It's a marriage of convenience, of course.
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It is a marriage of convenience.
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We'll call it a marriage of convenience, if you'd like.
Fiction book (1997) -
The latter half of the 20th century bore witness to similar marriages of convenience.
Academic text (2001) -
I'm told she owes her position to a marriage of convenience.
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Yes, it would be a marriage of convenience, but convenience had its benefits to a busy litigator like myself.
Academic text (1995) -
Immigration law has led to a significant number of marriages of convenience—friends helping friends stay in the country.
Blog text (13) -
Their marriage was primarily a marriage of convenience, arranged to secure political alliances.
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For many, a marriage of convenience serves practical purposes rather than romantic ones.
Antonyms
How Loving
2
3.3
5
5.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
marriage + of + convenience
The sense 'a marriage entered for practical or political reasons' is directly compositional from 'marriage' (a legal partnership) and 'convenience' (practical suitability), with 'of' marking the relationship. This construction is common cross-linguistically (e.g. Spanish 'matrimonio de conveniencia'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will very likely infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Marriage of convenience comes from the simple idea that people long used marriage to make a deal—kings or families would marry someone to gain land, money or peace instead of marrying for love. So, marriage of convenience means a marriage made 'for practical or political reasons' rather than for love.