How to Use polygyny in a Sentence

polygyny

noun
  • These studies don’t mean that polygyny is harmless.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • But in villages where polygyny is common, that blow is softened.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • In short, there remain multiple ways polygyny can be harmful.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Expand that across a whole society, and polygyny looks like a recipe for an army of resentful, single men.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Critics of polygyny present two main arguments.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Nevertheless, the best evidence suggests that polygyny is unlikely to be a root cause of social unrest.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Together, these results support a theory known as the polygyny threshold model.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • The narrative that polygyny leads to lonely bachelors is intuitive.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • This scenario may not fit all contexts, but these studies clearly undercut claims that polygyny is unequivocally harmful.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • In fact, in nearly half of the countries examined, higher rates of polygyny were associated with fewer, not more, unmarried men.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Much of this work has been carried out with colleagues in Tanzania where, like Uganda, polygyny is relatively common.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • There certainly are studies that have demonstrated associations between polygyny and poor health.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • This logic has led leading political scientist Rose McDermott to describe polygyny as evil.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Ten years ago, my colleages and I documented that polygyny is associated with higher food insecurity and poor child health when comparing outcomes across over 50 Tanzanian villages.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Other researchers, such as anthropologist Joseph Henrich, even go as far as to credit Christianity’s derision of polygyny as a driving force of Western prosperity.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Moreover, when comparing families within communities, polygynous households were typically wealthier, a key factor in making polygyny attractive to women, and children were not disadvantaged.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Moreover, within wider patriarchal systems that afford few women, regardless of marital status, economic and social security, polygyny may not just be a tolerable choice but in some contexts a preferred arrangement with tangible benefits for both genders.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Hidden advantages of polygyny Another recent study, published in August 2025 by economist Sylvain Dessy and his colleagues, goes further, suggesting that polygyny has unrecognized advantages when times are tough.
    — David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
  • In Queen Mother, Farmer takes a clear-eyed look at Moore’s foibles, noting her absenteeism during her son’s formative years, her embrace of patriarchal hierarchy in Black communities, and her exhortations for Black women to embrace polygyny to facilitate nation building.
    — Dara T. Mathis, The Atlantic, 16 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'polygyny.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: