unmarryingadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈmarɪɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌənˈmɛriɪŋ/ Characterized by not marrying or by the absence of marriage; esp. (of a person) that does not marry; inclined or likely not to marry (cf. marrying adj. 1). Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > [adjective] > by choice
chastec1315
unmarrying1722
celibate1827
unmating1857
1722 O. Dykes Royal Marriage xxxi. 367 How edifying an Example of conjugal Affection must they needs be in this loose unmarrying Age, by their singular Constancy, Patience, and Complacency.
1836 N. P. Willis Inklings of Adventure I. 8 I have imagined, however, the case of an unmarrying idle man, a character too rare as yet in America to affect the general question.
1846 H. G. Robinson Odes of Horace ii. xv The unmarrying [L. caelebs] plane [will] o'erwhelm Shortly with its growth the elm.
1868 J. C. Stretton Three Wives I. xxviii. 328 He did not wonder it was an unmarrying age—there was nothing so pleasant and agreeable as a bachelor's life.
1916 I. Wild House-room iii. 23 His sister Philippa Olivia was of an unmarrying type, who had reached the age of fifty single.
1991 G. Tsukiyama Women of Silk i. 15 These silk factories accepted unattached girls to work in them for very good wages. There were many girls left to this unmarrying fate in the silk villages.
2004 Washington Post (Nexis) 12 Sept. t3 In her post-Crimea years, while recovering from a long wartime illness, the unmarrying Nightingale, now beyond rejecting marriage proposals, organized public health reforms even from her bed.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1722