Meaning of shotgun marriage | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A marriage beginning with (or resulting from) a shotgun wedding.
   countable
2. A shotgun wedding itself.
   countable
3. Such marriages, or such weddings, taken collectively.
   uncountable
4. Used figuratively.
   countable, uncountable

Examples

“It is essential for us to win back the rights of teenagers to prevent the state from using […] the denial of reproductive control to channel young women into shotgun marriages, into unwanted familial responsibilities and into dead end streets.”

“Others explained that a forced marriage was likely to end in an early divorce, so that the child would suffer more in a shotgun marriage than if born out of wedlock.”

CEFR level