marriage of convenience

marriage of convenience

A legal marriage that happens primarily or solely for practical purposes, rather than love. Any couple suspected of entering into a marriage of convenience to bypass the need for work permits may be investigated and have their marriage license revoked at any time. Back when homosexuality was illegal, many gay men and women entered into marriages of convenience to protect them from public scrutiny.
See also: convenience, marriage, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

marriage of convenience

a marriage concluded to achieve a practical purpose.
This expression was used by Joseph Addison in the early 18th century, translating the French mariage de convenance , which has itself been current in English since the mid 19th century.
1949 George Bernard Shaw Buoyant Billions The proportion of happy love marriages to happy marriages of convenience has never been counted.
See also: convenience, marriage, of
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • sham marriage
  • shotgun marriage
  • a shotgun wedding/marriage
  • mariage blanc
  • traditional marriage
  • one flesh
  • be one flesh
  • become one flesh
  • till
  • till death do us part
References in periodicals archive
Savvidou said the migration officials would go to people's homes to check if they lived together, examine their personal items and ask questions about their sex life to establish if they were in a marriage of convenience. Nobody is saying there are no marriages of convenience, aimed at fooling the authorities, but the migration department cannot act indiscriminately, bringing such accusations against whomever it chooses, including couples with families.
She notes that the Chakrouns' marriage of nearly 34 years can hardly be compared to a marriage of convenience or what might be termed bringing back a holiday bride' and that the decision rejecting Mrs Chakroun's application seems to indicate that the process fell very short of the individual assessment required both by the directive and by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Ryan Reynolds is forced into a marriage of convenience with Sandra Bullock.
Although for reasons of state, the Prince married and produced the necessary two heirs, it is clear that on his side this was only a marriage of convenience and, in due course, was dissolved.
The Duke offers a marriage of convenience in which Rogan takes care of Caroline and in return will have the funds needed to achieve his objective.
This, the so-called First Triumvirate, was very much a marriage of convenience. Pompey needed Caesar's political support for his project of conferring state lands on veterans who had served under his command, and Crassus coveted the authority to launch a military expedition against Parthia, a powerful Persian state in Mesopotamia.
This "marriage of convenience" between the two gave legitimacy and stability to the Saudi State.
I liked Doug Ireland's "Marriage of Convenience" [Sept.
They have largely cast the sickbed nuptials as a marriage of convenience for the bride, a union that would give her what Orwell himself referred to as a sinecure of "the writer's widow."
The artistic section of the exhibition, with thirty-two participants, went rather on the offensive in its criticism of art and business as a marriage of convenience. In this spirit, Matthieu Laurette, acting as a kind of consumer activist, makes a living from the money-back guarantees of manufacturers and touts this rip-off as artistry.
Wilkins and Julias alternated as Caroline, the young lady being forced into a marriage of convenience.
[2] He believed that 'the marriage between architecture and housing at the earlier stages of the modern movement ended in divorce, suggesting that for some it was a marriage of convenience from the start'.
It is, however, purely a marriage of convenience and is destined sooner or later to end in messy divorce.
"But the Moon-Robertson marriage of convenience is a new height of absurdity.
"We have confidence in Tribasa." It will be interesting to see where this marriage of convenience leads.