From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmonogamymo‧nog‧a‧my /məˈnɒɡəmi $ məˈnɑː-/ noun [uncountable] 1 SSFMARRYthe custom of being married to only one husband or wife → bigamy, polygamy2 when a person or animal has a sexual relationship with only one partner Monogamy is rare in most animal groups, but is common among birds. —monogamous adjective We live in a monogamous society. —monogamously adverb
Examples from the Corpus
monogamy• Lufkin never demanded monogamy from her and she had no idea whether he slept with other women.• Not that socially imposed monogamy need extend to captive slaves.• It has not done so, however, by imposing monogamy on them.• The next commonest is monogamy - one male paired with one female.• As we shall see, the lesson they teach is that we are designed for a system of monogamy plagued by adultery.• It seems unlikely that monogamy is a natural state for the human animal.• Society pays noisy lip service to monogamy but, in reality, encourages affairs.• And be certain of your monogamy.Origin monogamy (1600-1700) French monogamie, from Late Latin, from Greek, from mono- ( → MONO-) + gamos “marriage” 