alimony

English

Etymology

Known since 1655, from Latin alimōnia (“food, support, nourishment, sustenance”) (English aliment, as in alimentary), itself from alere (“to nourish”) + -mōnia (“action, state, condition”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ɪ.mə.ni/
• IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ə.moʊ.ni/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

alimony (countable and uncountable, plural alimonies)

1. (law) A court-mandated allowance made to a former spouse by a divorced or legally separated person.

   Synonym: maintenance

   • 1985, Joel Schumacher, Carl Kurlander, St. Elmo's Fire (motion picture), spoken by Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy):

     Who won, huh? Nobody. Used to be sex was the only free thing, No longer. Alimony… palimony… it's all financial. Love is an illusion.

2. (obsolete) The means to support life. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
   • 1653, Anthropometamorphosis: man transform'd; or, the artificial changeling‎^[1], →OCLC, page 308:

     […] having the advantage of this strange way of alimony, he sold his allowance of provant at great rates; […]

Usage notes

In the United States culture, the term alimony can be considered politically incorrect, with favor for terms like spousal support.

Derived terms

• alimonious
• alimony drone
• palimony
• vaginamony

 

Related terms

• aliment
• alimentary

Translations

a court-enforced allowance

• Arabic: نَفَقَة (nafaqa)
• Bulgarian: издръжка (bg) (izdrǎžka)
• Catalan: pensió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 贍養費／赡养费 (zh) (shànyǎngfèi)

• Czech: výživné n, alimenty (cs) m pl
• Danish: hustrubidrag n
• Dutch: alimentatie (nl) f, alimentatiegeld n
• Esperanto: nutramono, alimento (eo)
• Finnish: elatusapu (fi)
• French: pension alimentaire (fr) f
• Georgian: ალიმენტი (alimenṭi)
• German: Unterhalt (de) m, Alimente (de) pl
• Greek: επίδομα διατροφής n (epídoma diatrofís), (colloquial) διατροφή (el) f (diatrofí)
• Hebrew: מְזוֹנוֹת (he) m pl (mezonót)
• Hungarian: feleségtartás, asszonytartás, házastárstartás, nőtartás, tartásdíj, eltartás (hu)
• Irish: ailiúnas m
• Italian: alimenti (it) m pl
• Japanese: (離婚 (ja) (りこん, rikon)) 扶養料 (ふようりょう, fuyōryō)
• Manx: argid scarrey poosee m
• Polish: alimenty (pl) m pl
• Portuguese: pensão alimentícia f, pensão (pt) f
• Romanian: pensie de întreținere (ro) f, pensie alimentară (ro) f
• Russian: алименты (ru) m pl (alimenty)
• Spanish: pensión alimenticia f, pensión (es) f
• Swedish: underhåll (sv)
• Thai: ค่าอุปการะเลี้ยงดู (kâa-ùp-bpà-gaa-rá-líiang-duu)
• Turkish: nafaka (tr)
• Ukrainian: аліме́нти (uk) m pl (aliménty)

the means to support life

• Dutch: onderhoud (nl) n, dagelijks brood n, levensonderhoud (nl) n
• Finnish: toimeentulo (fi), elanto (fi), elatus (fi)
• Greek: τροφεία (el) n pl (trofeía)
• Irish: ailiúnas m
• Latin: alimonia f
• Russian: сре́дства к существова́нию n pl (srédstva k suščestvovániju)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} alimenti (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 別居扶助料 (bekkyo fujoryō)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} alimentacija f
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} మనోవర్తి (te) (manōvarti)

See also

• child support

Further reading

• “alimony”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “alimony, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “alimony”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “alimony”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “alimony” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Anagrams

• Molniya