open marriage

American  

noun

1. a marriage in which the partners agree that each is free to have sexual relationships with other partners.

---

open marriage British  

noun

1. a marriage in which the partners are free to pursue their own social and sexual lives

---

Etymology

Origin of open marriage

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Gaiman remains locked in a contentious custody battle with Palmer, with whom he once had an open marriage and divorced in 2022.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 15, 2025

It's entirely possible that nothing, not even an open marriage, could have saved Love and Joe's ultimately doomed relationship.

From Salon • Oct. 25, 2021

My wife and I have been married for 10 years, but she recently asked me for an open marriage.

From Slate • May 24, 2021

Mrs. Knatchbull and her sister were raised by a governess and did not consider themselves close to their mother, who was absent for much of their upbringing and had a notoriously open marriage.

From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2017

Abélard would perhaps have consented to an open marriage had Héloïse been willing; but with a strange perversity she refused.

From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 07 Great Women by Lord, John