Adultery

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əˈdʌltəɹi/

Definitions

1. The act of participating in sexual activity with a person other than one's spouse constitutes a betrayal of marital trust in a committed relationship
2. Engaging in sexual relations with someone other than one's legally married partner
3. The act of having a sexual relationship outside the bonds of marriage

Etymology: "Adultery" looks like it should be a relative of "adult," but the two share no ancestry. The Latin "adulterium" came from "adulterare," meaning "to corrupt" or "to adulterate," and it was the source of the word's sense of "violation of conjugal faith." The prefix "ad-" and the verb "alterare" ("to alter") combined in Latin to suggest changing something for the worse, which is why the word carried the idea of contamination as well as sexual betrayal. English first met the word through Old French. The Old French "adultere" was a learned borrowing that Bernard of Clairvaux used in his sermons in the twelfth century, and English adopted it in an altered form. Before that, English speakers had their own term, "ǣwbryċe" (roughly "law-breaking"), which the newer word replaced. Earlier, English had also borrowed "avoutrie" from inherited Old French forms, and "adultery" kept that older suffix while taking on the learned Latin spelling.

Synonyms: infidelity, betrayal, unfaithfulness, disloyalty, extramarital affair

Antonyms: faithfulness, loyalty, fidelity, devotion, commitment