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"Men with older wives" or "men with an older wife" - which is correct, or preferable, and why?

For example: "I know a lot of _______."

"Men with older wives" sounds better to me.

Both of them are, technically, ambiguous: "Men with older wives" could mean {men, each of whom has an older wife}, or {men, each of whom has multiple older wives}. "Men with an older wife" could mean {men, each of whom has a (unique) older wife}, or {men, all of whom share an older wife}.

Dan
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    If you wanna be clear, don't delete so much. Assuming polygamy is not allowed (which changes the meanings), you might as well go whole hog and say what you mean - men who have an older wife -- because that pushes the singular away from the plural and defines a class. If you mean to define a different class, like polygamous men with several older wives, then you can pluralize wife. – John Lawler Jul 25 '22 at 14:20
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    Does this answer your question? "On their back" or "on their backs"?. I assume the (perverse?) "polygamy" interpretation isn't really relevant (in the linked duplicate, that can't arise because each child only has *one* back). – FumbleFingers Jul 25 '22 at 14:35
  • @FumbleFingers Thanks. It's essentially the same question, but it doesn't seem to have a definitive answer there. By the way, may I ask, how did you find it? As in, what did you type in the search bar? I tried (unsuccessfully) to find this kind of question. – Dan Jul 25 '22 at 14:46
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    @Dan: I remembered the previous question well enough to do a (Google site-specific) search for both sequences "their backs" and "their back" (if that hadn't worked I would have switched first to hand/s, then nose/s). If by "definitive answer" you mean an answer that claims only *one* version is "correct", I'd say any such answer would be pedantic rubbish. The choice of plurality in such contexts is basically a stylistic choice (with a slight nod towards exact context and/or intended nuance, but that's not usually relevant). – FumbleFingers Jul 26 '22 at 10:16

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