Standard Lemma guide

premarital

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P R IY0 M EH1 R AH0 T AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Before marriage; before getting married.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • Premarital sex is now far more common than it was in the 1920s.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Ellipsis of premarital sex.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, slang, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

relating to events before a marriage

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • prenuptial agreement

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: prenuptial, antenuptial

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh2- Proto-Indo-European *-i Proto-Indo-European *préh2i? Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Latin prae-lbor. Middle English pre- English pre- English marital English premarital From pre- + marital.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: նախամուսնական (naxamusnakan) — before one's marriage
  • Belarusian: дашлюбны (dašljubny) — before one's marriage
  • Bulgarian: предбрачен (predbračen) — before one's marriage
  • Catalan: prematrimonial — before one's marriage
  • Chinese: 婚前的 (hūnqiándē) — before one's marriage
  • Czech: předmanželský — before one's marriage
  • Danish: førægteskabelig — before one's marriage
  • Dutch: voorhuwelijks — before one's marriage
  • Dutch: voorechtelijk — before one's marriage
  • Esperanto: aŭtaŭedziĝa — before one's marriage
  • Finnish: esiaviollinen — before one's marriage
  • French: prénuptial — before one's marriage
  • German: vorehelich — before one's marriage
  • Greek: προγαμιαίος (progamiaíos) — before one's marriage
  • Hungarian: házasság előtti — before one's marriage
  • Italian: prematrimoniale — before one's marriage
  • Polish: przedmałżeński — before one's marriage
  • Portuguese: pré-nupcial — before one's marriage
  • Portuguese: premarital — before one's marriage
  • Portuguese: prematrimonial — before one's marriage
  • Russian: предбра́чный (predbráčnyj) — before one's marriage
  • Russian: добра́чный (dobráčnyj) — before one's marriage
  • Spanish: premarital — before one's marriage
  • Swedish: föräktenskaplig — before one's marriage
  • Ukrainian: дошлю́бний (došljúbnyj) — before one's marriage