marry

marry — verb

1. to take someone as your husband or wife in a legal or religious ceremony, or to

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

to take someone as your husband or wife in a legal or religious ceremony, or to enter into such a relationship.

Example

Nala and Gabriel plan to marry next spring in a small garden ceremony near his home.

plan to marry + time + location details

After five years together, Lien asked her partner to marry her during a weekend trip to the mountains.

ask someone to marry + prepositional phrase

Common collocations
  • marry young
  • marry late
  • marry for love
  • marry for money
  • marry again
  • marry someone off
Synonyms
  • get married

    more common in everyday conversation; 'marry' can sound slightly formal or literary

  • wed

    formal or poetic; common in newspaper headlines and wedding invitations

  • tie the knot

    informal idiom; friendly and conversational

Antonyms
  • divorce

    to legally end a marriage

  • separate

    to stop living together as a couple, without necessarily divorcing

Grammar Patterns

marry + person (transitive)

marry (intransitive, no object)

get married to + person

be married to + person (state)

Usage Note

In everyday speech, 'get married' is more common than 'marry' as a verb. Use 'marry' without an object to describe the event generally: 'They married in April.' Use 'get married to' when introducing the partner: 'She got married to a doctor.' The stative form 'be married to' describes the ongoing state: 'He has been married to Rosa for twenty years.'

Common Mistakes

She married with a rich businessman.
She married a rich businessman.
no preposition 'with' after 'marry' when the spouse is the direct object.
They are married for five years.
They have been married for five years.
'married' as a state requires 'have been' for duration, not 'are'.

2. to conduct the official ceremony that makes two people husband and wife, as a pr

2.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to conduct the official ceremony that makes two people husband and wife, as a priest, judge, or other authorized person.

Example

Judge Ramón agreed to marry Christopher and Nellie at the courthouse on Friday afternoon.

marry + person1 and person2 as officiant

The village priest has married three generations of the Sato family in the same wooden chapel.

present perfect showing lifetime experience

Common collocations
  • marry a couple
  • marry people
  • authorized to marry
Synonyms
  • unite

    formal and poetic; often used in the wedding ceremony text itself

  • join in matrimony

    very formal; used in traditional religious ceremonies

Grammar Patterns

marry + two people (as officiant)

Usage Note

This sense is used only for the person performing the ceremony, not for the couple getting married. The object is either the couple ('marry a couple') or each person individually ('marry two people'). The subject is always someone with legal or religious authority to conduct weddings.

3. to bring two different qualities, features, or ideas together so that they work

3.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to bring two different qualities, features, or ideas together so that they work well as one unit — for example, a design that marries old craft traditions with modern technology.

Example

Hiro's recipe marries the spicy flavours of Thai street food with fresh herbs from Japanese cooking.

marry + noun + with + noun — combining ideas/qualities

The new park marries natural woodland with carefully designed playgrounds and running tracks for all ages.

Common collocations
  • marry tradition with innovation
  • marry style with comfort
  • marry form with function
Synonyms
  • combine

    neutral and widely used; lacks the sense of successful or elegant blending

  • blend

    suggests the things merge smoothly into one another

  • fuse

    stronger; suggests the result is a completely new, unified thing

Antonyms
  • separate

    to keep things apart rather than joining them

Grammar Patterns

marry + noun + with/to + noun (abstract qualities)

Usage Note

Subject is usually a creation or product (design, building, film, dish, style). The pattern is almost always 'marry [thing A] with [thing B]' where A and B are different in nature. Less commonly 'marry [thing A] to [thing B]'. This sense is more common in written reviews, criticism, and formal descriptions than in everyday speech.

Common Mistakes

The dish marries chicken and potatoes together.
The dish marries traditional Korean spices with French cooking techniques.
'marry' in this sense is used for abstract qualities or distinct styles, not for any two random ingredients.

4. to choose a spouse for someone else, most often for your own child, by selecting

4.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to choose a spouse for someone else, most often for your own child, by selecting or arranging a suitable partner.

Example

In some communities, parents still marry their daughters to men chosen by the extended family elders.

marry + daughter + to + person — arranged marriage pattern

The old king tried to marry his son to a neighbouring princess to secure peace between the two lands.

try to marry + son + to + person — strategic match

Common collocations
  • marry off a daughter
  • marry someone to
  • be married to (by arrangement)
Synonyms
  • marry off

    phrasal verb; often implies the arrangement is done by the family, may carry a slightly negative tone

Grammar Patterns

marry + person + to + person (arranged)

Usage Note

Frequently used in the passive ('she was married to a businessman') or with the structure 'marry someone off to someone'. In modern usage, this sense often describes historical or traditional practices rather than current ones, unless discussing cultures where arranged marriages are still common.

Common Mistakes

Her parents married her with a doctor.
Her parents married her to a doctor.
the spouse follows 'to', not 'with'.
Phrasal verbs

marry into

phrasal verb

To become a member of a family or social group by marrying someone from that group.

Maya married into a wealthy family and moved to a big house.

Diego married into the business and now works for his wife's company.

marry off

phrasal verb

To arrange for your child to get married, especially to someone you choose.

The king married off his daughter to a prince from a neighboring kingdom.

My aunt tried to marry off her son, but he refused.

marry up

phrasal verb

To combine or connect two things so that they work well together.

The designer married up modern style with traditional patterns.

We need to marry up the data from both reports.

Idioms

marry in haste, repent at leisure

idiom

a saying meaning that if you marry someone too quickly without thinking carefully, you will regret it for a long time afterwards

Her grandmother warned her that marrying after knowing him for only three months would mean repenting at leisure.

The old saying 'marry in haste, repent at leisure' reminds couples not to rush into a lifelong commitment.

marry money

idiom

to marry a rich person, especially when wealth is the main reason for the marriage

Selim joked that his only career plan was to marry money, but nobody took him seriously.

She did not marry for love — she married money, and everyone in town knew it.

marry in haste (, repent at leisure)

idiom

This saying means that if you get married too quickly without knowing the person well, you may regret it later.

Sara and Tom married in haste and divorced within a year.

My grandmother always warned me, 'Marry in haste, repent at leisure.'

marry — exclamation

Word family

  • marriage
    nounA2
  • married
    adjectiveA2
  • unmarried
    adjectiveB1
  • remarry
    verbB2
  • remarriage
    nounC1
  • intermarry
    verbC1
  • marriageable
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four expressions mean becoming someone's husband or wife, but they differ in register and grammar. 'Get married' is the most natural choice in everyday conversation: 'We got married last year.' 'Marry' works in both formal and neutral contexts but often appears in writing or planned speech: 'They married in secret.' 'Wed' belongs to formal, literary, or journalistic style — common in newspaper headlines ('Couple wed after 50-year engagement') but unusual in casual talk. 'Tie the knot' is a friendly, informal idiom that avoids sounding too serious: 'My cousins tied the knot in Las Vegas.' For learners, 'get married' is the safest default; 'wed' should be reserved for special occasions or written English.

marry ↗get marriedwed ↗tie the knot ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • ask someone to marry
  • get married to
  • be married to
  • marry into (a family)

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word 'marry' entered English through Old French 'marier', which came from Latin 'marītāre', meaning 'to wed, to give in marriage'. The Latin root 'marītus' meant 'husband'. Before appearing in English, the same Latin word spread across Romance languages — French 'marier', Spanish 'casar' (from a different Latin root), Italian 'sposare'. The word has been in English since the 13th century and originally could mean either 'to take a spouse' or 'to give a child in marriage', a flexibility the language has kept for over 800 years.