(n.) The having of a plurality of wives or husbands at the same time; usually, the marriage of a man to more than one woman, or the practice of having several wives, at the same time; -- opposed to monogamy; as, the nations of the East practiced polygamy. See the Note under Bigamy, and cf. Polyandry.
(n.) The state or habit of having more than one mate.
(n.) The condition or state of a plant which bears both perfect and unisexual flowers.
Example Sentences:
(1) Polygamy and Islam were more prevalent among the EA than the booked.
(2) Gene Schaerr, who represented Utah, warned that if the state could not define marriage the way it wanted, it might have to open the door to polygamy.
(3) The incidence of polygamy was higher among the rejectors, and rejectors' husbands had more children from their other wives.
(4) Current family adversity in terms of unstable parental union, paternal use of alcohol, polygamy and sibship size operated by interactive or additive effect.
(5) This is underscored by our current inability to explain satisfactorily several patterns including the relative significance of floating, geographic biases in the incidence of cooperative breeding, sexual asymmetries in delayed dispersal, the relationship between delayed dispersal leading to helping behavior and cooperative polygamy, and the rarity of the co-occurrence of helpers and floaters within the same population.
(6) The vehemence of Conservative divisions over same-sex marriage were exposed when one Tory MP said it would undermine "normal marriage", another questioned whether polygamy would be legalised next, and a third claimed that European judges will soon force the Church of England to allow same-sex marriages against its will.
(7) 'He was sitting directly in front of me, with three wives on one side and four on the other, and I began to sing "polygamy is the worst of all things".
(8) It’s not a conservative society in a stereotyped way.” She has campaigned against issues such as polygamy, domestic violence and so-called “honour” killings.
(9) He supports polygamy and a ban on gambling and alcohol, and wants to build Europe's largest mosque - and he leads a large private militia which is accused of savage brutality in Chechnya.
(10) Further, it is shown that the human species rapidly evolved its life-extending mutations because of the special circumstances afforded by the subdivision of the species into small semi-isolated (genetically) tribes of 10-100 individuals in which polygamy was the key factor in rapid incorporation of life- and well-being-extending new features.
(11) The total fertility of 6.2 was high but lower than the national average possibly because of the high rates of polygamy and primary infertility and the long periods of amenorrhoea and breast feeding which occurred after delivery.
(12) Sexually-transmitted diseases such as vaginitis (80%) were caused by polygamy, prostitution, and promiscuity, HIV serodiagnosis could not be performed because of a lack of equipment.
(13) We were told gay marriage was the slippery slope to polygamy, bestiality and incest.
(14) Rather, the data show that polygamy and monogamy select women with different social characteristics, which are associated with different rates of cumulative fertility.
(15) The contributions of such factors as rural-urban migration, birth order, family size, polygamy and genetics to the etiology of major mental disorders in this population require further investigations.
(16) Dr Matthew Offord, MP for Hendon, asked if the government was going to introduce other forms of marriage, such as polygamy.
(17) It is possible that multiple marriages and polygamy played a significant role in the bacterial colonisation of the endometrium in the Hausa-Fulani population of Zaria, Nigeria.
(18) The elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, rescinded some of these rights: restrictions on polygamy were lifted; a reduction of the marriage age was proposed; women's right to seek divorce was limited.
(19) One local mayor was roundly criticised earlier this year after he warned legalising gay marriage would open the way to legalising polygamy or incest.
(20) Polygamy is fairly widespread in Chechnya, explained partly by local traditions and partly by a shortage of menfolk after all the tragedies the Chechens have experienced in recent decades.