wedding ring effect

noun

A phenomenon in which people who are married or otherwise taken are perceived as more attractive.

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Meanings

nounwedding ring effect (uncountable)
  1. uncountablehuman sciencesA phenomenon in which people who are married or otherwise taken are perceived as more attractive.
    1 more example

    We tested one of the hypotheses, the so-called wedding ring effect-that women would prefer men who are already engaged or married-in a series of live interactions between men and women. The results show that women do not find men signaling engagement, or being perceived as having a partner, more attractive or higher in socioeconomic status.

    2003, Tobias Uller, L. Christoffer Johansson, “Human mate choice and the wedding ring effect: Are married men more attractive?”, in Human Nature, volume 14, number 3
Cite this entry
APA

wedding ring effect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wedding%20ring%20effect

MLA

“wedding ring effect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wedding%20ring%20effect. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wedding ring effect,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wedding%20ring%20effect.

Source: wedding ring effect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.