Meanings
adjectivemonogamous (not comparable)
- not comparablestrictlyInvolving marriage to one person at a time.
Suppose, for example, that if polygamy were legal, 10 percent of adult men would take an average of three wives apiece and that all remaining marriages would be monogamous.
2006 March 16, Robert H. Frank, “Polygamy and the Marriage Market: Who Would Have the Upper Hand?”, in The New York TimesAntonyms: polygamous
- not comparableCharacterized by mutual sexual and romantic exclusivity.
- not comparableExclusively engaging in mutually exclusive sexual/romantic partnership.
- not comparablebiologyMonogamic; having a simple flower with united anthers.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveInvolving marriage to one person at a time.
Opposite
More synonyms by meaning
adjective(used of relationships and of individuals) having one mate
Opposite
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*men-
- Proto-Hellenic*mónwos
- Ancient Greekμόνος (mónos)
- Ancient Greekμονο- (mono-)
- Englishmono-
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵem-
- Ancient Greekγᾰ́μος (gắmos)
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃édosder.?
- Englishmonogamous
Translations
Catalan monògam, monògam
- monògamhaving only one sexual partner at a time
- monògambeing married to one person at a time
Chinese Mandarin 一夫一妻, 一夫一妻制
- 一夫一妻 (yī fū yī qī)being married to one person at a time
- 一夫一妻制 (yī fū yī qī zhì)being married to one person at a time
Czech monogamní
- monogamníbeing married to one person at a time
Danish monogam
- monogambeing married to one person at a time
Esperanto monogamia, monogama
- monogamiabeing married to one person at a time
- monogamabeing married to one person at a time
Finnish yksiavioinen
- yksiavioinenbeing married to one person at a time
French monogame
- monogamebeing married to one person at a time
German monogam, monogam
- monogamhaving only one sexual partner at a time
- monogambeing married to one person at a time
Hungarian monogám, monogám
- monogámhaving only one sexual partner at a time
- monogámbeing married to one person at a time
- egynejűbeing married to one person at a time
Icelandic einkvænis-, sem aðhyllist einkvæni
- einkvænis-being married to one person at a time
- sem aðhyllist einkvænibeing married to one person at a time
Irish aonchéileach, monagamach
- aonchéileachhaving only one sexual partner at a time
- monagamachhaving only one sexual partner at a time
- aonchéileachbeing married to one person at a time
- monagamachbeing married to one person at a time
Italian monogamo
- monogamobeing married to one person at a time
Japanese 一夫一婦の
- 一夫一婦の (ippuippu no)being married to one person at a time
Polish monogamiczny
- monogamicznybeing married to one person at a time
Portuguese monógamo, monógamo
- monógamohaving only one sexual partner at a time
- monógamobeing married to one person at a time
Russian монога́мный, единобра́чный
- монога́мный (monogámnyj)being married to one person at a time
- единобра́чный (jedinobráčnyj)being married to one person at a time
Spanish monógamo
- monógamobeing married to one person at a time
Swedish monogam
- monogambeing married to one person at a time
Thai ผัวเดียวเมียเดียว
- ผัวเดียวเมียเดียว (pǔua-diao-miia-diao)being married to one person at a time
Turkish tekeşli
- tekeşlibeing married to one person at a time
Ukrainian монога́мний, одношлю́бний
- монога́мний (monohámnyj)being married to one person at a time
- одношлю́бний (odnošljúbnyj)being married to one person at a time
Cite this entry
APA
monogamous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monogamous
MLA
“monogamous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monogamous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “monogamous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monogamous.
Source: monogamous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.