adultery
/əˈdʌltəɹi/ noun
Forms adulteries
- noun (strictly) Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse. See more synonyms at Thesaurus:cuckoldry “She engaged in adultery because her spouse has a low libido, while hers is very high.”
- noun (biblical, loosely) Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the sixth/seventh commandment; sinful sexual behavior as a category. “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
- noun (biblical) Faithlessness in religion.
- noun (obsolete) The fine and penalty formerly imposed for the offence of adultery.
- noun (ecclesiastical) The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
- noun (political economy) Adulteration; corruption.
- noun (obsolete) Injury; degradation; ruin.
Synonyms
Etymology
With change of suffix, from the Old French adultere (“violation of conjugal faith”) (in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons, 12c.), a learnèd borrowing from Latin adulterium, from adulterō. Replaced the older form avoutrie, from the inherited Old French forms avouterie or aoulterie, while keeping its suffix. Compare French adultère (“adultery”). Displaced Old English ǣwbryċe. Not related to adult.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife, or voluntary sexual intercourse by a married woman with another than her husband.
- noun Adulteration; corruption. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
Etymology [L. adulterium. See Advoutry.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “adultery”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details