Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or characterized by the custom of marrying only outside the limits of a clan or tribe: This meaning pertains to social anthropology and describes a marriage rule requiring individuals to choose partners from outside their own social group.
   • Characterized by or fit for fertilization by a flower that is not closely related: This is a biological meaning, used in botany to describe a type of cross-pollination or reproductive compatibility between genetically distinct plants.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Social Anthropology):

  • The exogamic rules of the tribe ensured alliances with neighboring communities.
  • Anthropologists studied the exogamic practices of the indigenous people.

• Adjective (Botany):

  • This plant species exhibits an exogamic breeding system, requiring pollen from a different genetic line.
  • Exogamic fertilization helps maintain genetic diversity within the population.

Advanced Usage

• "exogamic alliance": A marriage or partnership formed according to exogamic rules, often creating social or political bonds between groups.

  • The treaty was strengthened by an exogamic alliance between the royal families.

• "exogamic mechanism": A biological feature or process that promotes or enforces cross-fertilization.

  • The flower's structure serves as an exogamic mechanism to prevent self-pollination.

Variants and Related Words

• Exogamy (n): The custom or practice of marrying outside a community, clan, or tribe. In biology, it refers to cross-fertilization.
  • The study focused on the social functions of exogamy.
• Exogamous (adj): A synonym for , with identical meanings in both social and biological contexts.
  • They belong to an exogamous clan.

Synonyms

• Out-marrying (for the social custom).
• Cross-fertilizing (for the biological process).
• Allogamous (a technical synonym in botany).

Antonyms

• Endogamic/Endogamous (adj): Pertaining to marriage within a specific social group, or to self-fertilization in biology.
  • The community practiced strict endogamic marriage.

Adjective

1. pertaining to or characterized by the custom of marrying only outside the limits of a clan or tribe
2. characterized by or fit for fertilization by a flower that is not closely related