companionate marriage

noun

1

: a proposed form of marriage in which legalized birth control would be practiced, the divorce of childless couples by mutual consent would be permitted, and neither party would have any financial or economic claim on the other compare trial marriage

2

: an informal association of a man and woman in a connubial relation that is usually comparatively transitory and without legal status compare common-law marriage

Word History

First Known Use

1927, in the meaning defined above

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