Meaning & use
polygamist
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A person who is married to more than one spouse at the same time.
Grammar: Countable: a polygamist, many polygamists.
Patterns
- a polygamist in somewhere
The documentary followed a polygamist and his three wives.
Polygamists can be prosecuted in countries where the practice is illegal.
The author interviewed a former polygamist about his past.
nouncountable
A person who believes in or supports having multiple spouses.
Grammar: Countable and used for a belief rather than a status.
He described himself as a polygamist on principle.
The group was led by a polygamist who preached openly.
Historians debated whether the king was truly a polygamist.
Word forms
| plural | polygamists |
|---|
Common combinations
- convicted polygamist
- He was a convicted polygamist.
- polygamist community
- The polygamist community lived outside the town.
- former polygamist
- The former polygamist wrote a memoir.
- practising polygamist
- A practising polygamist faces legal risks in many countries.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bigamist
- A bigamist has exactly two spouses and usually illegally, while a polygamist may have many.
- polygynist
- A polygynist is a man with multiple wives, a narrower and more technical term.
- polyamorist
- A polyamorist has several romantic partners without necessarily marrying them.
Opposites
Word family
- polygamy noun
- the practice of having more than one spouse
- polygamous adjective
- involving several spouses
- monogamy noun
- having one spouse at a time
- bigamy noun
- the crime of marrying while already married
Commonly confused: polygamist or bigamist? polygamist or polyamorist?
polygamist vs bigamist
A bigamist has two spouses and the term usually implies a crime, while a polygamist has several spouses.
polygamist vs polyamorist
Polyamory describes multiple relationships by agreement and need not involve marriage.
Practice
A man who is married to three women at the same time is called what?
Choose one answer.
A polygamist has more than one spouse. A monogamist has one, and the others do not describe marriage to several people.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “polygamist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.