sororate


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so·ror·ate

 (sə-rôr′ĭt)
n.
The custom of marriage of a man to his wife's sister or sisters, usually after the wife has died or is unable to conceive a child.

[From Latin soror, sister; see sororal.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sororate

(ˈsɒrəˌreɪt)
n
(Anthropology & Ethnology) the custom in some societies of a widower marrying his deceased wife's younger sister
[C20: from Latin soror a sister]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

so•ror•ate

(ˈsɔr əˌreɪt, ˈsoʊr-)

n.
marriage with a wife's sister, as following the wife's death.
[1905–10; < Latin soror sister]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
Examples of these include early marriages, sororate marriages, inheritance, polygamy, and appeasement of avenging spirits, lack of education, gender violence and lack of exposure (Mapuranga, 2010).
Others that are less widespread include dry sexual intercourse, sororate marriage practices (where a deceased wife is replaced by her young sister) and levirate marriage practices (where a man marries his deceased brother's widow).
Customs like levirate and sororate, by which a widow lives with the younger brother of her husband and a man marries the younger sister of his wife, show that marriage is very much a relationship between families rather than between individuals.
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