Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

marriage of convenience

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.97 in modern English

Syllables: mar-riage of -con-ve-nience
IPA

34

Scrabble Score

21

Letters

5

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A marriage motivated by some reason other than love; for example, one conducted to obtain residence rights in a country, for financial gain, or for political purposes.

noun

A big tent alliance of disparate factions (such as political factions).

Example Sentences

"Widely published author and business consultant would like a marriage of convenience with a woman who is an Irish or Austrian citizen. You get legal resident status in U.S. (and eligibility for student aid), and I get eligibility for prison furloughs plus the citizenship of a neutral country in a few years so I can start a new life elsewhere."
"Libertarians and the Religious Right make odd bedfellows, but that marriage of convenience in the Republican Party has stuck around since the 1980s."
"Kofi Annan’s marriage of convenience is likely to last only as long as it takes the political players to build up war chests ahead of another electoral bout."

Etymology

Calque of French mariage de convenance.

Inflected Forms

marriages of convenience (plural)

Synonyms

mariage de convenance

Questions

What does marriage of convenience mean?: A marriage motivated by some reason other than love; for example, one conducted to obtain residence rights in a country, for financial gain, or for political purposes.
Where does marriage of convenience come from?: Calque of French mariage de convenance.

How to pronounce marriage of convenience

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