mariage blanc

/ marjaʒ blɑ̃ /

noun

1. unconsummated marriage

Word History and Origins

Origin of mariage blanc¹

C20: literally: white marriage

Example Sentences

She did move to New York and live in a mariage blanc with a young gay man.

From The Guardian

By then, De Wolfe was Lady Mendl, thanks to a mariage blanc in 1926 to an obscure but accommodating British diplomat that surprised the hitherto-lesbian tastemaker’s friends.

From Architectural Digest

And from the frank, intimate detail of their correspondence, it's clear that theirs was an extraordinary relationship, and very far from a "mariage blanc".

From The Guardian

Here the danger is irremovable from the physical essentia of the marriage itself, and in such a case, no matter how high the personal qualities of the man who may, for instance, have been infected by accident in the course of his duty as a doctor, even childless marriage other than the mariage blanc must be, at any rate, postponed until the disease has been cured.

From Project Gutenberg