Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than the lawful spouse.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Violation of the marriage-bed; carnal connection of a married person with any other than the lawful spouse; in a more restricted sense, the wrong by a wife which introduces or may introduce a spurious offspring into a family. It is sometimes called
single adultery when only one of the parties is married, and double adultery when both are married. In some jurisdictions the law makes adultery a crime, in some only a civil injury. In England, formerly, it was punished by fine and imprisonment, and in Scotland it was frequently made a capital offense. In Great Britain at the present day, however, it is punishable only by ecclesiastical censure; but when committed by the wife, it is regarded as a civil injury, and forms the ground of an action of damages against the paramour. Contrary to the previous general opinion, it has recently been held in the United States that the wife may have a corresponding action against a woman who seduces away her husband. In England and Scotland the husband's recovery of damages against the paramour can now be had only by joining him with the wife in an action for divorce. Seedivorce . - n. In the seventh commandment of the decalogue, as generally understood, all manner of lewdness or unchastity in act or thought. See Mat. v. 28.
- n. Eccles., intrusion into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
- n. In old arboriculture, the grafting of trees: so called from its being considered an unnatural union.
- n. Adulteration; corruption: as, “all the adulteries of art,”
- n. Injury; degradation; ruin.
Wiktionary
- n. Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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.
- n. obsolete Adulteration; corruption.
- n. Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment.
- n. Faithlessness in religion.
- n. (Old Law) The fine and penalty imposed for the offense of adultery.
- n. (Eccl.) The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
- n. obsolete Injury; degradation; ruin.
WordNet 3.0
- n. extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations
Etymologies
- From the Old French scholarly form adultere ("violation of conjugal faith") (in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons, 12c.), from Latin adulterium, from adulter. Replaced the older form avoutrie, from the popular Old French forms avouterie or aoulterie. Compare French adultère ("adultery"). Old English word was æwbryce ("breach of lawful marriage"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French adultere, from Latin adulterium, from adulter, adulterer; see adulterate. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“That a Christian who marries several wives, commits natural adultery, is agreeable to the Lord's words, "_That it is not lawful to put away a wife, because from the beginning they were created to be one flesh; and that he who putteth away a wife without just cause, and marrieth another, committeth adultery_.”
““Is it—adultery”—the word adultery landed hard in the pit of her stomach—“is it a part of the profile?””
“Ordinarily I would say that his adultery is and should be a private matter, but apparently he isn't doing such a good job in the office, either. aproudmemberoftheunpatrioticmob”
“Yeah, that's what they call adultery by a public personality, a private matter.”
“AMANPOUR: That would mean in a country such as Britain, people would have their hands cut off for robbery, we'd be stoned for what you call adultery, hanged?”
“That's what they call adultery these days in Washington nopilikia 26 minutes ago 11:51 PM Tax them......”
“That's what they call adultery these days in Washington DC.”
“Here too the word "adultery" covers a multitude of sins -- with the added twist that it is set in a society, contemporary Ireland, in which the receding tide of religious influence has left people without the old certainties.”
“But what makes this more than just a novel of possible adultery is the wealth of symbolism woven into every single event.”
“Thou shall not committ adultery" is one of the 10 Commandments.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adultery’.
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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Conspiracies
...And all that heavy metal.
kurt cobain, courtney love, tom grant, exodus rehab clinic, california, seattle, record industry e..., military industri..., mic, yugoslavia, heroin, credit cards and 202 more...
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Grafting, &c.
I'm specifically looking for terms from "old arboriculture," but it's an open list.
graft, grafting, arboriculture, scion, approaching, inarching, inarch, imp, shoot, adultery, arborist, ingraft and 52 more...
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Evolution
darwin, hms beagle, galapagos, evolution, natural selection, select for, confer, survival advantage, environmental pre..., mutation, genome, homozygous and 193 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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♡LOVE and things like it♡
dedicated to my man Steven, without whom i would be addicted to drugs, lying in a gutter, hating myself, or hooking somewhere :)
affectionate, amative, amatory, amiable, ammophilous, amorous, ardent, attached to, attracted to, beloved, bewitching, bitten and 404 more...
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Bible names
noah, almighty, cain, abel, father, mother, israel, king, sanctuary, spirit, psalm, blessing and 236 more...
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Rijndael's Words
rijndael, malevolent, eviscerate, ravenous, dejection, necronomicon, voracious, apollyon, shiva, baphomet, devious, deceit and 83 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for adultery.
ruzuzu As does grafting. Sep 9, 2010
yarb intrusion into a bishopric sounds delightfully naughty. Sep 9, 2010
ruzuzu "2. In the seventh commandment of the decalogue, as generally understood, all manner of lewdness or unchastity in act or thought. See Mat. v. 28.
3. Eccles., intrusion into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
4. In old arboriculture, the grafting of trees: so called from its being considered an unnatural union."
--Century Dictionary
See comments on houghmagandy. Sep 9, 2010
brtom "He urged me, stating that he felt it his mission in life to urge me, to defile the marriage bed, to commit adultery at the earliest possible opportunity."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15 Feb 6, 2007