adultery
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the act of having a sexual relationship with someone else while you are married.
voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than their legal spouse.
Simple“He was shocked to discover that his wife had committed adultery during their first year of marriage.”
In context“Historically, adultery served as one of the primary legal grounds for a fault-based divorce in many jurisdictions.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 C2 Proficiency
in some religions, being unfaithful to God or your religious beliefs.
a metaphorical extension denoting faithlessness or spiritual unfaithfulness, particularly in a theological context.
Simple“The prophet warned the people against spiritual adultery and following other gods.”
In context“The text employs the metaphor of adultery to describe the nation's abandonment of its ancestral covenant in favour of foreign idols.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
the act of making something less pure by adding something else to it.
the process of corrupting or debasing something; a synonym for adulteration.
Simple“The old laws were meant to prevent the adultery of the local wine supply.”
In context“The scholar argued that the adultery of the original manuscript by later editors had obscured the author's true intent.”
SynonymsAntonyms
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.