Cohabitation

//koʊhæbɪˈteɪʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An emotional and physical intimate relationship which includes a common living place and which exists without legal or religious sanction. countable, uncountable

    "According to Greene, sodomy, gross indecency, adultery, cohabitation and repeated convictions for indecent exposure are all considered sex offenses in Michigan."

  2. 2
    the act of living together and having a sexual relationship (especially without being married) wordnet
  3. 3
    The act of living together. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A place where two or more individuals reside together. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    The act of two species living together in the same habitat. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    Cooperation between politicians of opposing political parties; especially, in France, between a President and Prime Minister. countable, uncountable

    "Commentators agreed that Mr Chirac's unusually aggressive remarks, followed by the equally fierce response of Mr Jospin's government, signalled the beginning of the end for the tense but so far civil "cohabitation" under which the two men have ruled France since 1997."

Example

More examples

"Cohabitation is either easy or impossible."

Etymology

From Middle English cohabitacioun, from Old French cohabitacion and Late Latin cohabitātiō. By surface analysis, co- + habitation.

Related phrases

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