Definition of "adultery"

adultery

/əˈdʌltəɹi/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural adulteries
1. (biblical, strictly) Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse. See more synonyms at Thesaurus:cuckoldry
  Quotations
  So also that copulation which in one City is Matrimony, in another will be judged Adultery.
  1651, Thomas Hobbes, De Cive
  Under modern statutory law, some courts hold that the unmarried participant isn't guilty of adultery (that only the married participant is)
  2009, Garner's Modern American Usage‎, page 22
2. (biblical, broadly) Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the sixth/seventh commandment; sinful sexual behavior as a category.
3. (biblical) Faithlessness in religion.
  Quotations
  And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Jeremiah 3:9
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.
7. (obsolete) Injury; degradation; ruin.
  Quotations
  […] you might wrest the Caduceus out of my hand, to the adultery and spoil of Nature […]
  1616, Ben Jonson, “Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists”, in Thomas Hodgkin, editor, The Works of Ben Jonson, published 1692, page 378

Definition of "adultery"

adultery

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations