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Webster 1913 Edition

Adultery

A-dul′ter-y

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Adulteries
.
[L.
adulterium
. See
Advoutry
.]
1.
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.
The word has also been used to characterize the act of an unmarried participator, the other being married. In the United States the definition varies with the local statutes. Unlawful intercourse between two married persons is sometimes called
double adultery
; between a married and an unmarried person,
single adultery
.
2.
Adulteration; corruption.
[Obs.]
B. Jonson.
3.
(Script.)
(a)
Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment.
(b)
Faithlessness in religion.
Jer. iii. 9.
4.
(Old Law)
The fine and penalty imposed for the offense of adultery.
5.
(Eccl.)
The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
6.
Injury; degradation; ruin.
[Obs.]
You might wrest the caduceus out of my hand to the
adultery
and spoil of nature.
B. Jonson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Adultery

ADUL'TERY

,
Noun.
[L. adulterium. See Adulterate.]
1.
Violation of the marriage bed; a crime, or a civil injury, which introduces, or may introduce, into a family, a spurious offspring.
By the laws of Connecticut, the sexual intercourse of any man, with a married woman, is the crime of adultery in both: such intercourse of a married man, with an unmarried woman, is fornication in both, and adultery of the man, within the meaning of the law respecting divorce; but not a felonious adultery in either, or the crime of adultery at common law, or by statute. This latter offense is, in England, proceeded with only in the ecclesiastical courts.
In common usage, adultery means the unfaithfulness of any married person to the marriage bed. In England, Parliament grant absolute divorces for infidelity to the marriage bed in either party; and the spiritual courts divorce a mensa et thoro.
2.
In a scriptural sense, all manner of lewdness or unchastity, as in the seventh commandment.
3.
In scripture, idolatry, or apostasy from the true God. Jer. 3.
4.
In old laws, the fine and penalty imposed for the offense of adultery.
5.
In ecclesiastical affairs, the intrusion of a person into a bishopric, during the life of the bishop.
6.
Among ancient naturalists, the grafting of trees was called adultery, being considered as an unnatural union.

Definition 2024

adultery

adultery

English

Alternative forms

Noun

adultery ‎(countable and uncountable, plural adulteries)

  1. Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse.
    She engaged in adultery because her spouse has a low libido, while hers is very high.
  2. (biblical) Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment.
  3. (biblical) Faithlessness in religion.
    And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. (Bible, King James Version, Jer. iii. 9)
  4. (obsolete) The fine and penalty formerly imposed for the offence of adultery.
  5. (ecclesiastical) The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
  6. (Political economy) adulteration; corruption
    engaged in adultery because the spouse has a low libido, while in contrast, that libido, is very high. --> construes:: "the usual complaint of scarcity of money, which always follows over trading". Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, ("this and that" Newton, Isaac (ibid.))
  7. (obsolete) injury; degradation; ruin
    • Ben Jonson? (whose artistry, [sic], (contraptions, vices, and attenuate squalor), exerted an >interpretable< if lasting impact on poetry, the stage, and, comedy, "upon", read usuriously, England.
      You might wrest the caduceus out of my hand to the adultery and spoil of nature.

Related terms

Translations

External links

  • adultery in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • adultery in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Etymology

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”). Not related to adult.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˈdʌltəɹi/

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