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Glite Dictionary
serial polygamy

serial polygamy

8.8
To be married to different people one after another, often after divorce
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪəriəl pəˈlɪɡəmi/
translation icon : poligamia en serie
  • His history of serial polygamy caused controversy among his colleagues.

Examples

  • Some cultures are more accepting of serial polygamy than others.

  • The documentary explored the emotional impact of serial polygamy on children.

  • Serial polygamy is controversial.

  • Many people view serial polygamy as a controversial practice.

  • He practiced serial polygamy, marrying three times after each divorce while never having more than one spouse at a time.

  • In some cultures, serial polygamy is accepted, allowing individuals to marry multiple times across their lifetime after each divorce.

  • Her experience with serial polygamy taught her about the complexities of love and commitment in successive relationships.

Synonyms

remarriage
vsserial polygamy
5 2.8

Getting married again after a previous marriage ends

is a repeated pattern of such legal unions rather than a single occurrence
serial monogamy
vsserial polygamy
1 7.3

Having one romantic partner at a time and later starting new ones

is about repeated legal marriages after divorce rather than nonmarital exclusive relationships

Antonyms

monogamy
38 4.3

Being married to or having a sexual relationship with only one person at a time

Surface Forms

serial polygamy singular
serial polygamies plural

Morphology

serial + polygamy

The meaning 'having more than one spouse consecutively' is directly derivable from combining 'serial' (consecutive, in sequence) with 'polygamy' (having multiple spouses): 'serial' adds a temporal/sequential sense to the base concept. This is a regular compositional pattern (e.g. 'serial monogamy') and is cross-linguistically transparent, so learners who know the constituent words should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Serial polygamy combines serial ('one after another') and polygamy ('more than one spouse'), so it gives the picture of someone marrying different people in a row, not at the same time, and that's why it means 'having more than one spouse one after another'.