Bigamist

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbɪɡəmɪst/

Definitions

1. A person who is legally married to one spouse while simultaneously and unlawfully marrying another is referred to as this term
2. This term denotes an individual who engages in the act of being married to multiple partners at the same time without legal acknowledgment
3. The label describes someone who has married one person while still being legally bound to another, violating marriage laws

Etymology: Medieval church lawyers defined "bigamy" more loosely than modern law does. Because the Latin "bigamus" combined "bi-" (two) with the Greek "gamos" (marriage), it could describe a man who had married twice in succession, including a man who remarried after his first wife died. Its sense of holding two living spouses at once came later. The English word is built from "bigamy" plus the suffix "-ist," which denotes a person who practises or commits something. The noun for the act was borrowed through Anglo-French, and the personal form was then created in English by adding that suffix, following the same pattern as "dentist" or "novelist."

Synonyms: dual spouse, married person, polygamist

Antonyms: monogamist, single, unmarried