Monoamory

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The practice of being involved with only one romantic partner at any given time ; the condition of being devoted exclusively to a single lifelong partner
2. Having just one romantic partner at a time as a relationship practice ; a commitment to remaining devoted to one partner for life
3. Restricting romantic involvement to a single person at once ; an exclusive devotion to one partner over the course of a lifetime

Etymology: Monoamory is a fairly recent coinage, and its shape gives away its logic: it is built from the Greek-derived prefix "mono-", meaning "one" or "single", joined to the Latin "amor", meaning "love", with the English suffix "-y" tacked on the end. Put together, it names the practice or state of being committed to a single romantic partner, the opposite of the many-partner arrangement its builders had in mind. The most likely model for the word is "polyamory", the term for consensual relationships with more than one partner, which was itself formed on the same Greek-Latin pattern with "poly-" ("many") in place of "mono-". Monoamory appears in print from at least 1992, and its appearance alongside the older polyamory term suggests it was coined as a deliberate counterpart, giving a name to a way of loving that had previously needed no label of its own.

Synonyms: monogamy

Antonyms: polyamory, polygamy