ADULTERY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Adultery

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/ədˈəltəri/ Listen

noun

Adultery n. (pl. adulteries)

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. Note: It is adultery on the part of the married wrongdoer. 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.

Adulteration; corruption. (Obs.)

(Script.)

(a)

Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment.

(b)

Faithlessness in religion.

(Old Law) The fine and penalty imposed for the offense of adultery.

(Eccl.) The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.

Injury; degradation; ruin. (Obs.) "You might wrest the caduceus out of my hand to the adultery and spoil of nature."

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Etymology of 'Adultery'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Adultery" Quotes from Famous Books

... twelve they return Thanks for their Preservation to that time; and at six for that of the whole Day. After which, one would think that they imagine themselves at perfect Liberty; and their open Gallantries perfectly countenance the Imagination: for tho' Adultery is look'd upon as a grievous Crime, and punish'd accordingly; yet Fornication is softened with the title of a Venial Sin, and they seem to practise it ...

— Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton • Daniel Defoe

... have held a more conservative view. He, take advantage of a cripple? He commit a breach of hospitality? He sneak into Wanhope as his cousin's friend to corrupt his cousin's wife? What has been called the pickpocket form of adultery had never been to his taste. Had Bernard been on his feet, a strong man armed, Lawrence might, if he had fallen in love with Laura, have gloried in carrying her off openly; but of the baseness of which Val accused him he knew himself to ...

— Nightfall • Anthony Pryde

... adultery;" in other words, [5] thou shalt not adulterate Life, Truth, or Love,—men- tally, morally, or physically. "Thou shalt not steal;" that is, thou shalt not rob man of money, which is but trash, compared ...

— Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 • Mary Baker Eddy

... Jerome gives as another reason, "lest the Mother of God should be stoned by the Jews as an adulteress." But this reason seems to have no weight, for if she were not espoused, she could not be condemned for adultery. Therefore it does not seem reasonable that Christ should be born of an ...

— Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) - From the Complete American Edition • Thomas Aquinas

... betimes; therefore he makes this one argument with God, that he would blot out his transgressions, that he would forgive his adultery, his murders, and horrible hypocrisy. Do it, O Lord, saith he, do it, and "then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted ...

— The Jerusalem Sinner Saved • John Bunyan

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