What's the difference between betroth and betrothal?

Betroth


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To contract to any one for a marriage; to engage or promise in order to marriage; to affiance; -- used esp. of a woman.
  • (v. t.) To promise to take (as a future spouse); to plight one's troth to.
  • (v. t.) To nominate to a bishopric, in order to consecration.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Back in London, I had word that Estella was betrothed to Bentley Drummle, a loathsome ne-er-do-well from my lunching club.
  • (2) Concomitant with the reintroduction of the ancient European betrothal system, the adolescent age of first coitus has lowered and averages two years earlier than first contraception.
  • (3) The peculiar thing about the opera is that the back story – war, slayings, the murder of the Irish princess Isolde's betrothed by the Cornish knight Tristan, her determination to kill the latter, her failure to do so, the way she healed Tristan's wounds and kept his identity secret – is more interesting than the story itself, which revolves around the pair not quite being able to make love despite drinking a love potion (substituted by Isolde's lady-in-waiting Brangäne for the poison with which Isolde intended to kill both Tristan and herself as they journeyed to Cornwall, where she was to marry boring old King Marke).
  • (4) Are Nicola Sturgeon and the majority within her party really so betrothed to the idea of the UK being part of the European Union that she is comfortable with Mr Blair sliding on to the same platform?
  • (5) Though not so much as to accept the impertinent offer of marriage from Mr Guppy, for – if it is not too much to hope – I rather think that in 500 pages or so I may be betrothed to the handsome and warm-hearted Dr Woodcourt who gave me some reason for encouragement before leaving the narrative after being nice to Young Jo.
  • (6) Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Tyrells of the Reach Margaery Tyrell has King Joffrey, her betrothed, firmly under her thumb, much to the chagrin of Cersei.
  • (7) The shrewd reader will regard the final betrothal of Emma and Mr Knightley as inevitable, from the moment we know that he is the only person ever to find fault with her.
  • (8) "There was only one saving grace," he wrote in his autobiography Dear Me (1977), which sold a million copies, "and that was that I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilised music in the universe."
  • (9) The engaged couple were reported to have celebrated their betrothal in the hotel's bar, drinking champagne and cocktails with other guests.
  • (10) There you are, betrothed to your beloved, but something goes wrong and it is broken off in tears and recriminations.

Betrothal


Definition:

  • (n.) The act of betrothing, or the fact of being betrothed; a mutual promise, engagement, or contract for a future marriage between the persons betrothed; betrothment; affiance.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Back in London, I had word that Estella was betrothed to Bentley Drummle, a loathsome ne-er-do-well from my lunching club.
  • (2) Concomitant with the reintroduction of the ancient European betrothal system, the adolescent age of first coitus has lowered and averages two years earlier than first contraception.
  • (3) The peculiar thing about the opera is that the back story – war, slayings, the murder of the Irish princess Isolde's betrothed by the Cornish knight Tristan, her determination to kill the latter, her failure to do so, the way she healed Tristan's wounds and kept his identity secret – is more interesting than the story itself, which revolves around the pair not quite being able to make love despite drinking a love potion (substituted by Isolde's lady-in-waiting Brangäne for the poison with which Isolde intended to kill both Tristan and herself as they journeyed to Cornwall, where she was to marry boring old King Marke).
  • (4) Are Nicola Sturgeon and the majority within her party really so betrothed to the idea of the UK being part of the European Union that she is comfortable with Mr Blair sliding on to the same platform?
  • (5) Though not so much as to accept the impertinent offer of marriage from Mr Guppy, for – if it is not too much to hope – I rather think that in 500 pages or so I may be betrothed to the handsome and warm-hearted Dr Woodcourt who gave me some reason for encouragement before leaving the narrative after being nice to Young Jo.
  • (6) Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Tyrells of the Reach Margaery Tyrell has King Joffrey, her betrothed, firmly under her thumb, much to the chagrin of Cersei.
  • (7) The shrewd reader will regard the final betrothal of Emma and Mr Knightley as inevitable, from the moment we know that he is the only person ever to find fault with her.
  • (8) "There was only one saving grace," he wrote in his autobiography Dear Me (1977), which sold a million copies, "and that was that I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilised music in the universe."
  • (9) The engaged couple were reported to have celebrated their betrothal in the hotel's bar, drinking champagne and cocktails with other guests.
  • (10) There you are, betrothed to your beloved, but something goes wrong and it is broken off in tears and recriminations.