Meanings
- pluralplural onlyA wedding ceremony.First known use mid 16th c.
A Nimph is marryed to a Fay, Great preparations for the Day, All Rites of Nuptials they recite you, To the Brydall and inuite you.
1630, Michael Drayton, The Muses Elizium, Lately diſcouered, by a New Way over Parnassvs, London: Thomas Harper, page 675 more examples
To Night, to Night, this fatal Moment, novv / Our dreadful Father's Nuptials are preparing, / And I muſt loſe bright Monima for ever.
1678, Nat[haniel] Lee, Mithridates King of Pontus, a Tragedy: […], London: […] R[obert] E[veringham] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1I hope you will not think it is any manner of disrespect to your person or merit, that the intended nuptials between us are interrupted. My father says he has a much better offer for me than you can make, and has ordered me to break off the treaty between us.
1712 March 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SUNDAY, February 25, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 310; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 47[O]f five talents he had, gave two and a half in marriage with an only daughter he had of his own, and two and a half in marriage with the daughter of Eudamidas, and in one and the same day solemnized both their nupitals.
1842, Michael de Montaigne [i.e., Michel de Montaigne]; [Antoine] Jay; [Abel-François] Villemain, “Of Friendship”, in [Charles] Cotton, transl., edited by William Hazlitt, The Works of Michael de Montaigne; Comprising; the Essays (Translated by Cotton); the Letters; the Journey into Germany and Italy; Now First Translated; a Life, by the Editor; Notes from All the Commentators; the Critical Opinions of Eminent Authors on Montaigne; the Élodies of MM. Jay and Villemain; a Bibliographical Notice of All the Editions; and Copious Indexes, London: John Templeman, 248, Regent Street, →OCLC, page 82, column 1This Sultan [Abdul Hamid II], who [Pierre] Loti always admired, had, according to the author, graciously and magnanimously permitted both women to choose their husbands. The cousins celebrated their nupitals together, and then moved into adjoining palaces which the Sultan had built for them.
10th Turkish History Congress: Ankara, 22–26 September 1986: Reported to the Congress
1990, X. Türk Tarih Kongresi: Ankara, 22–26 Eylül 1986: Kongreye Sunulan Bildiriler [10th Turkish History Congress: Ankara, 22–26 September 1986: Reported to the Congress] (Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları [Turkish Historical Society Publications]; 9, 10a), volume 2, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi [Turkish Historical Society Printing House], →ISBN, page 2318We got hitched many years back / […] / The rains were severe that day / and the wild winds inclement / but the nuptials still took place.
2015, John Ngong Kum Ngong, “Nuptials at Vespers”, in Nuptials at Vespers & Other Strains: Poems, Mankon, Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Publishing & Research Common Initiative Group, →ISBN, page 7Synonyms: wedding
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA wedding ceremony.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe social event at which the ceremony of marriage is performed
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*sneubho-
- Latinnūptiālis“pertaining to marriage”
- Englishnuptials
From nuptial, borrowed from Latin nūptiālis (“pertaining to marriage”), from nūptiae (“wedding”) (also plural only), from nūpta, from nūbō (“to marry, to take as husband”), from Proto-Indo-European *sneubho-, *snewbʰ- (“to marry, wed”). Cognate with French noces and Italian nozze.
More words from Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish häät
- häätwedding ceremony — see also wedding
French noces
- noceswedding ceremony — see also wedding
Hungarian nász
- nászwedding ceremony — see also wedding
Italian nozze
- nozzewedding ceremony — see also wedding
Persian سور
- سور (sur)wedding ceremony — see also wedding
Polish zaślubiny, ślub
- zaślubinywedding ceremony — see also wedding
- ślubwedding ceremony — see also wedding
- weselewedding ceremony — see also wedding
Portuguese núpcias
- núpciaswedding ceremony — see also wedding
Russian бракосочета́ние
- бракосочета́ние (brakosočetánije)wedding ceremony — see also wedding
Spanish nupcias
- nupciaswedding ceremony — see also wedding
Swedish bröllop, vigsel
- bröllopwedding ceremony — see also wedding
- vigselwedding ceremony — see also wedding
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
nuptials. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nuptials
“nuptials.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nuptials. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nuptials,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nuptials.
Source: nuptials on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.