hypergamy

plural hypergamies

1. uncountableusuallyA preference for marrying a spouse of higher social class.

   A lawsuit against David Geffen mentions a website where hypergamy — dating above your station — is celebrated. But the word carries darker intonations.

   2025 July 29, Jesse McKinley, “David Geffen’s Divorce Gives New Meaning to Hypergamy”, in The New York Times

   1 more example

   From 1940 to the mid-1970s, the tendency for men to marry down educationally became more pronounced and the cultural ideal of hypergamy — that women must marry up — became more insistent.

   2012 November 2, Stephanie Coontz, “The M.R.S. and the Ph.D.”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: marry up · Antonyms: hypogamy