以上诸多单词均可用于表示某人的婚姻状况。其中，bigamy 为“重婚罪”，指两种情况：（1)有效婚姻存续期间与另一人结婚的犯罪行为（notifiable offense of going through a ceremony of marriage to someone when you are still married to someone else。[1])；(2)在知道对方为有夫之妇或有妇之夫时，仍与其同居的犯罪行为(Sometimes, the crime of cohabiting with a person with knowledge that one or the other of the cohabiting parties is married to someone else[2] ) 。重婚罪在英国等属于严重犯罪（ serious offense) ,重婚罪犯则被称为bigamist。digamy是指因第一次婚姻无效、或离婚或配偶死亡后的“再婚”（a second marriage after the death of, or annulment or divorce from the first spouse [3])，其也称为 deuterogamy 和 digama。monogamy 为“一夫一妻制”，其为多数国家认可（the marriage of one wife to one husband, a custom prevalent in most modem cultures[4]) 。polygamy 为多配偶制， 指一个人同时可有两个或两个以上配偶（the state of being simultaneously marriage to more than one spouses[5])，其包括 polygyny (—夫多妻制)(the condition or practice of having more than one wife [6])和 polyandry (—妻多夫制）（the condition or practice of having more than one husband[7])两种形式。在加拿大或英国等， polygamy被视为一种犯罪，其包括同时与多人同居（an offense to practice or enter into or in any manner agree or consent to practice or enter into：any form of polygamy，or any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time, whether or not it is by law recognized as a binding form of marriage[8] )
[1] Cf. P. H. Collin, Dictionary of Law, 2nd edition, at p. 54, Peter Collin Publishing (1993).
[2] Cf. James E. Clapp, Random House Webster's Dictionary of the Law，at p. 53， Random House, New York (2000).
[3] Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 461，West Group (1999).
[4] Id. at p. 1023. Cf. Daphne Dukelow, The Dictionary of Canadian Law, at p. 651 , Thomson Professional Publishing Canada (1991).
[5] Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 1180，West Group (1999).
[6] Id. at p. 1180.
[7] Id. at p. 1180.
[8] Cf. Daphne Dukelow, The Dictionary of Canadian Law, at p. 788, Thomson Professional Publishing Canada (1991).