Intramarriages

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Unions or marriages occurring within a specific group, community, or social class, often emphasizing relationships within defined boundaries or shared identity
2. The practice of contracting matrimony exclusively among members of a particular social set, ethnic group, or organization, maintaining internal cohesion and cultural continuity
3. Relationships legally or socially recognized between individuals belonging to the same community or subgroup, fostering intra-group bonding and preserving traditional ties

Etymology: "Intramarriages" is the plural of "intramarriage", a noun formed in English by joining the Latin prefix "intra-", meaning "within", to the ordinary word "marriage". The compound is transparent: it names a marriage contracted inside a single group, such as a community, caste, clan or religious body, as opposed to one that crosses its boundaries. The plural form simply counts such unions, so a sentence about several of them, or about the practice in general, takes the "-s" ending. Because the base word "marriage" arrived in English from Old French, the compound inherits its Latin-derived core while the prefix keeps its own Latin sense, giving a word that is largely self-explanatory once the parts are known.

Synonyms: internal marriages

Antonyms: intermarriages