different between marriage vs matchmaking

English

Etymology

From Middle English mariage, from Old French mariage, from marier (“to marry”), from Latin mar?t? (“marry”, verb, literally “give in marriage”), from maritus (“lover”, “nuptial”), from mas (“male, masculine, of the male sex”). Equivalent to marry +? -age. Displaced native Old English ?esins?ipe.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mæ??d?/
• (General American) enPR: m?r??j
  • (Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /?mæ??d?/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /?m???d?/, /?me??d?/
• Rhymes: -æ??d?

Noun

marriage (countable and uncountable, plural marriages)

1. The state of being married. [from 14th c.]

2. A union of two or more people that creates a family tie and carries legal, social, and/or religious rights and responsibilities. [from 14th c.]
   • 1944, Tiaki Hikawera Mitira, Takitimu, page 123:

     By his marriage to his two wives, Tapuwae quietly strengthened all of the pas of the Wairoa district, as many of them came under his control through these unions.

   • 1990, John Stevens, Lust for enlightenment: Buddhism and sex:

     One layman in Buddha's time decided to embrace celibacy and relinquished his marriage vows to his four wives. When he asked them what they wanted in terms of a settlement, one said, […]

   • 1995, Edith Deen, All of the women of the Bible, page 275:

     The account of the loss of the blessing of his father Isaac appears immediately after Esau's marriage to his Hittite wives.
   1. (sometimes specifically) The union of only two people, to the exclusion of all others.

      • "I have a patient right now whose marriage proved to be a tragedy. She wanted love, sexual gratification, children, and social prestige; but life blasted all her hopes. Her husband didn't love her. He refused even to eat with her, and forced her to serve his meals in his room upstairs. She had no children, no social standing. She went insane; and, in her imagination, she divorced her husband and resumed her maiden name. She now believes she has married into the English aristocracy, and she insists on being called Lady Smith.

      My grandparents' marriage lasted for forty years.

      Pat and Leslie's marriage to each other lasted forty years.

   2. (often specifically) The union of two people of opposite sex, to the exclusion of all others.
3. A wedding; a ceremony in which people wed. [from 14th c.]

   You are cordially invited to the marriage of James Smith and Jane Doe.

4. (figuratively) A close union. [from 15th c.]
   • 2000, Edmund E. Jacobitti, The Classical Heritage in Machiavelli's Histories, in The comedy and tragedy of Machiavelli: essays on the literary works (edited by Vickie B. Sullivan), page 181:

     And this marriage of poetry and history remained a solid relationship throughout the classical period.

   • 2006 August 9, Amy Scattergood, A wild dream in the wild, published in the Los Angeles Times, republished in 2009 in The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant (by Michelle and Phillip Wojtowicz and Michael Gilson with Catherine Price), on the cover:

     But the food is real: a marriage of local ingredients and serious technique.
5. A joining of two parts.
6. (card games) A king and a queen, when held as a hand in some versions of poker or melded in pinochle.
7. (card games) In solitaire or patience games, the placing a card of the same suit on the next one above or below it in value.
8. (prison slang) A homosexual relationship between male prisoners.

Usage notes

• For a detailed discussion of marriage as an institution, with its traditions, its norms, and its accompanying legal rights and obligations, please consult the Wikipedia article on marriage.
• On Wiktionary, see also "common-law marriage", "open marriage", and "gay marriage".

Synonyms

• matrimony
• wedding
• civil union

Hyponyms

• wedlease

Antonyms

• divorce

Derived terms

Pages starting with “marriage”.

Related terms

• marry

Translations

See also

References

• marriage at OneLook Dictionary Search
• marriage in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• marriage in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• Michael Weisenberg, The Official Dictionary of Poker (2000, MGI/Mike Caro University, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• germaria

English

Alternative forms

• match-making

Etymology

match +? making

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?mæt??me?k??/

Noun

matchmaking (countable and uncountable, plural matchmakings)

1. An attempt to make two people romantically interested in each other, especially an attempt to set up a date between people or to arrange a marriage.
   • 1851: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

     The marriage was highly approved of by Mrs. Shelby, who, with a little womanly complacency in match-making, felt pleased to unite her handsome favorite with one of her own class who seemed in every way suited to her;

   • 2001: The Gilmore Girls (TV, episode 1.18)

     Patty, your timing is excellent. There's Claude over there. Want me to do some matchmaking?

   • 1815: Jane Austen, Emma

     I planned the match from that hour; and when such success has blessed me in this instance, dear papa, you cannot think that I shall leave off match-making.

2. (business) A service aiming to bring together sellers and buyers or potential partners.
   • 1971: Eunice L. Watson and Arthur Cope Emlem, Matchmaking in Neighborhood Day Care: A Descriptive Study of the Day Care Neighbor Service [1]

     ... there was evidence that they did provide information for day care matchmaking to the potential users and givers of care.

3. (video games) The act or process of locating suitable players to take part in a multiplayer game session.
4. The manufacture of matches for kindling or burning.

Related terms

• matchmake
• matchmaker

Translations

Verb

matchmaking

1. present participle of matchmake