matrimonial

matrimonial, marital, conjugal, connubial, nuptial, hymeneal mean of, relating to, or characteristic of marriage.

Matrimonial is the most general term applicable to whatever has to do both with matrimony and with marriage in most of its senses (see MARRIAGE)

{

matrimonial vows

}

{

the matrimonial state

}

{

with close fidelity and love unfeigned, to keep the matrimonial bond unstained— Cowper

}

{

matrimonial bliss

}

Marital which sometimes implies specific reference to the husband and his part in marriage

{

marital rights

}

{

marital authority

}

is often used interchangeably with matrimonial[/]

{

marital vows

}

{

the marital relationship

}

Conjugal and connubial are frequently used interchangeably.

More discriminatively, conjugal refers to persons who are married

{

they flaunt their conjugal felicity in one's face— Wilde

}

{

I count it my good fortune that never once in . . . my childhood was I the witness of any conjugal jar— Ellis

}

and connubial to the marriage state

{

of my friends who have been least successful in connubial contracts— Johnson

}

{

enter the connubial state

}

Nuptial has primary reference to the marriage rites or ceremony

{

the nuptial torch— Milton

}

{

the nuptial ceremony was then performed by the Superintendent— Motley

}

Hymeneal is a poetic or literary word, suggestive of the splendors of marriage rites and festivities

{

hymeneal songs

}

{

chorus hymeneal, or triumphal chaunt matched with thine would be all but an empty vaunt— Shelley

}

{

one fully expects that ... the characters will join hands at the conclusion and dance off the stage to hymeneal music— Booth

}