How to Use wedlock in a Sentence

wedlock

noun
  • Why would Charley Pride want to father a child out of wedlock?
    — Michael Granberry, Dallas News, 9 June 2021
  • None of my brothers has mentioned having a son out of wedlock.
    — Washington Post, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Maria, meanwhile, also had a secret — a child born out of wedlock.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Why would a woman struggling with finding housing have four kids out of wedlock?
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 22 Mar. 2026
  • Nearly two decades prior, Tome gave birth to a stillborn boy out of wedlock.
    — H.m.a. Leow, JSTOR Daily, 15 Apr. 2025
  • This was a time when out-of-wedlock births brought extreme shame on everyone involved.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 6 Dec. 2019
  • Born in 518, Kentigern was the out-of-wedlock son of a king’s daughter.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 2 June 2020
  • However, the plan backfires when a child is conceived out of wedlock.
    — Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE.com, 1 Sep. 2021
  • Some of the children came from rich families, who in many cases gave up babies born out of wedlock.
    — Rafael Romo, CNN, 9 Sep. 2023
  • In some cultures, having a baby out of wedlock was once the ultimate taboo.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 24 Aug. 2021
  • So, Leonardo is this gay man born out of wedlock who is the greatest painter of all time in some people’s minds.
    — Addie Morfoot, Variety, 23 June 2024
  • What’s more, the number of single mothers is way up as a result of divorce and out-of-wedlock births.
    — Ana Veciana-Suarez, miamiherald, 9 May 2017
  • But the designation still suggested she had been born out of wedlock.
    — Washington Post, 24 June 2019
  • These plans were dropped after it was learned that Miss Colvin was expecting a child out of wedlock.
    — Jenn M. Jackson, Teen Vogue, 26 Mar. 2018
  • Collodi never had children of his own, though there were rumors of a daughter born out of wedlock.
    — Perri Klass, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 May 2022
  • The debate of when life begins swirled through my head, and the veil of a child out of wedlock at the prime of my career seemed unbearable.
    — Essence, 27 June 2022
  • Alfonsina, who fell pregnant by a colleague and had the child outside of wedlock.
    — Teresa Grøtan (tr. Caroline Waight), The Dial, 12 Nov. 2024
  • Women brought the victims to her, babies born out of wedlock, perhaps one too many for a household or the mother too young.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
  • Putin is rumored to have more children out of wedlock, all of who appear to have lived in Western countries.
    — CNN, 12 Apr. 2022
  • Although these girls were victims of abuse and exploitation, their children still carry the stigma of an out-of-wedlock birth.
    — Washington Post, 21 Sep. 2017
  • American cities went into decay, rising crime rates, rising divorce rates, more kids born out of wedlock.
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 28 Jan. 2026
  • When Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote his report, around a quarter of black children were born out of wedlock.
    — The Economist, 26 Sep. 2019
  • In the early 1980s, a woman in England had a baby out of wedlock.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 June 2021
  • Garvey fathered two children out of wedlock in 1989, and married a third woman that year.
    — David Lightman, Sacramento Bee, 23 Apr. 2024
  • As a schoolgirl, Sae-ri, the narrator, was seduced by a teacher and gave birth to a son, Min-soo, out of wedlock.
    — Claire Messud, Harper's Magazine, 20 July 2021
  • But their plan soon backfires, when an heir is conceived out of wedlock and the royal family has to seek refuge in the castle of Rosenbad.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 31 Aug. 2021
  • One woman in her 60s replied to it, saying that her own first child had been born out of wedlock, and was taken from her for adoption, which had broken her heart.
    — New York Times, 29 Apr. 2022
  • Most babies born in England and Wales in 2021 were born out of wedlock, for the first time since records began.
    — Madeleine Kearns, National Review, 16 Aug. 2022
  • In episode four, the Sea Snake refuses to show him any affection, and blocks his rise up the ranks, simply because he was born out of wedlock.
    — David Faris, Newsweek, 27 Dec. 2024
  • The biographer told The Post that some Britons may disapprove of having a child out-of-wedlock.
    — Washington Post, 21 Sep. 2021

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

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