Agapemone

//aɡəˈpiːm(ə)ni// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any community characterised by mutual love or free love.

    "This whole war was an agapemone…. You went to war when you desired to rape innumerable women. It was what war was for…. All these men, crowded in this narrow space…."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The base of a religious sect established in Sussex by the Rev. Henry James Prince in the mid-19th century, or a successor establishment in London, which were associated with free love and polygamy. historical

    "Four Nottidge sisters fell under the sway of the Agapemone cult, and lived in a commune whose megalomaniac leader forced them to marry his henchmen but forbade consummation of these unions: arguably, they did need rescuing."

Example

More examples

"Four Nottidge sisters fell under the sway of the Agapemone cult, and lived in a commune whose megalomaniac leader forced them to marry his henchmen but forbade consummation of these unions: arguably, they did need rescuing."

Etymology

Irregular formation from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē, “love”) and μονή (monḗ, “abode”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.