shotgun wedding

or shotgun marriage

noun

1. a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
2. Informal. a compromise, merger, accord, etc., occasioned by necessity:

   The coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding.

shotgun wedding

noun

1. informal.
   a wedding into which one or both partners are coerced, usually because the woman is pregnant

Word History and Origins

Origin of shotgun wedding¹

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

Idioms and Phrases

An agreement or compromise made through necessity, as in Since neither side won a majority, the coalition government was obviously a shotgun wedding . This expression alludes to a marriage precipitated by a woman's pregnancy, causing her father to point a literal or figurative gun at the responsible man's head. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

Example Sentences

The midnight announcement by the leaders of both parties was made in sombre tones and had the air of a shotgun wedding.

From BBC

Taiwan's two main opposition parties appeared to be on the brink of announcing their shotgun wedding - the leader of one would run for president in January's election; the leader of the other would be his running mate.

From BBC

The “Shotgun Wedding” star, 50, and Miss World America pageant queen, 29, announced they were expecting their first baby together in a joint Instagram post on Monday.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, what modern viewers mostly get are pale, labored imitations — the frenetic Jennifer Lopez-Josh Duhamel caper “Shotgun Wedding,” the hollow-core Ana de Armas-Chris Evans vehicle “Ghosted.”

From New York Times

He departed the comedy “Shotgun Wedding” that he was shooting with Jennifer Lopez, left the Paramount+ series “The Offer,” about the making of “The Godfather,” and was dropped by his agency, WME.

From Seattle Times