adultery
Plural: adulteries
Noun
- Infidelity by a married person.
- extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations
- "adultery is often cited as grounds for divorce"
- Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse. See more synonyms at Thesaurus:cuckoldry
- Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the sixth/seventh commandment; sinful sexual behavior as a category.
- Faithlessness in religion.
- The fine and penalty formerly imposed for the offence of adultery.
- The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
- Adulteration; corruption.
- Injury; degradation; ruin.
Examples
- She engaged in adultery because her spouse has a low libido, while hers is very high.
- Swapping tiles felt like a form of Scrabble adultery—a betrayal of your letters.
- Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Origin / 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.
Synonyms
criminal conversation, fornication, advowtry
Scrabble Score: 12
adultery: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordadultery: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
adultery: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary