polygyny

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

While polygyny - the marriage of a man to several women - is allowed in South Africa, such relationships are usually registered as customary marriages and are not celebrated in church.

From BBC • May 3, 2025

A third type of polygyny is a lek system.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

That’s why some 16 million men today can trace their ancestry back to Genghis Khan, a tyrant who pushed polygyny to its physical limits.

From Washington Post • Apr. 15, 2015

Coontz points to past Native American societies that occasionally engaged in what’s known as sororal polygyny, in which a man married to one woman might also marry her sister, perhaps after the sister’s husband died.

From Slate • Jan. 30, 2012

The marriage was arranged by the parents and polygyny was common where means would permit.

From Man, Past and Present by Haddon, Alfred Court