overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

adultery.

Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse. See more synonyms at Thesaurus:cuckoldry

8 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈdʌltəɹi/
  1. Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse. See more synonyms at Thesaurus:cuckoldry

    countable · uncountable
    She engaged in adultery because her spouse has a low libido, while hers is very high.
  2. Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the sixth/seventh commandment; sinful sexual behavior as a category.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
    Thou shalt not commit adultery.
  3. Faithlessness in religion.

    countable · uncountable
  4. The fine and penalty formerly imposed for the offence of adultery.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  5. The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.

    countable · uncountable
  6. Adulteration; corruption.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Injury; degradation; ruin.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

adultery has 8 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

adultery studioadultery workshello, adultery

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.