Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to marriage or the wedding ceremony.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or occurring during the mating season.
  • noun A wedding ceremony.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to marriage, or to the marriage ceremony; connected with or used at a wedding.
  • Synonyms Hymeneal, etc. (see matrimonial), bridal.
  • noun Marriage: now always in the plural.
  • noun Synonyms Wedding, Matrimony, etc. See marriage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to marriage; done or used at a wedding.
  • noun Marriage; wedding; nuptial ceremony; -- now only in the plural.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to wedding and marriage.
  • adjective Capable, or characteristic, of breeding.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to a wedding

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English nupcialle, from Old French nuptial, from Latin nūptiālis, from nūptiae, wedding, from nūpta, feminine past participle of nūbere, to take a husband.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin nūptiālis ("pertaining to marriage"), from nūptiae ("wedding"), from nupta, from nūbō ("I marry, I take as husband") from Proto-Indo-European *sneubho- (“to marry, to wed”).

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Examples

  • He is addressed as a king possessed of all essential graces, as a conqueror exalted on the throne of a righteous and eternal government, and as a bridegroom arrayed in nuptial splendor.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • The shrubs and flowers were in pairs; and I was informed that such little gardens appear about the houses where there are and have been nuptials, and hence they are called nuptial gardens.

    The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love Emanuel Swedenborg 1730

  • By the fourth generation, Kammerer reported, male toads even had black "nuptial" pads, a trait water-mating toads have (to grasp a female) but midwife toads do not.

    What Alters Our Genes 2009

  • But let us see what he brought and espoused us with, what kind of nuptial gifts.

    NPNF1-12. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians Editor 1889

  • It was in fact a kind of nuptial hymn, which, taking its start from the thought of nature as the universal mother, celebrated the preliminary pairing and mating together of all fresh things, in the hot and genial spring-time -- the immemorial nuptials of the soul of spring itself and the brown earth; and was full of a delighted, mystic sense of what passed between them in that fantastic marriage.

    Marius the Epicurean — Volume 1 Walter Pater 1866

  • So here's JP asking the waiter how much it would cost if Holli and Jay wanted to rent a "nuptial" room for the night.

    BuddyTV 2010

  • On the other hand, in deeper waters, the red pigment prevails and females choose males that have bright red "nuptial" suits.

    Softpedia News - Global 2008

  • "nuptial," is really a reflection of the ultimate male-female Love that exists within the union.

    Catholic Exchange 2009

  • Through close observation of 50 happily married couples, the authors identified four templates for lasting nuptial success.

    Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off 2009

  • So I don't care that Bridesmaids features bridesmaids, nor that it is ultimately uncritical of the American nuptial hyper-consumption that, from a distance, looks like a disorder.

    Bridesmaids: how a chick flick won over a feminist 2011

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