BETROTHAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does betrothal mean? 

• BETROTHAL (noun)
  The noun BETROTHAL has 2 senses:

1. a mutual promise to marry

2. the act of becoming betrothed or engaged

  Familiarity information: BETROTHAL used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BETROTHAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mutual promise to marry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

betrothal; engagement; troth

Hypernyms ("betrothal" is a kind of...):

promise (a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "betrothal"):

ringing (the giving of a ring as a token of engagement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of becoming betrothed or engaged

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

betrothal; espousal

Hypernyms ("betrothal" is a kind of...):

rite; ritual (any customary observance or practice)

Derivation:

betroth (give to in marriage)

 Context examples 

Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When we had our first great quarrel (within a week of our betrothal), and when Dora sent me back the ring, enclosed in a despairing cocked-hat note, wherein she used the terrible expression that our love had begun in folly, and ended in madness! which dreadful words occasioned me to tear my hair, and cry that all was over!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)