adultery

/əˈdʌltəri/

/əˈdʌltəri/

Other forms: adulteries

Adultery is a word for cheating — cheating on your spouse with another person. Adultery isn’t a crime, but some people consider it a sin.

If two people are dating, and one fools around with someone else, it's not adultery. Only married people can commit adultery. If you commit adultery — and your spouse finds out — then you’ve got a lot of explaining to do. Although it's still highly frowned upon, cultural attitudes toward adultery have changed a lot: the classic book The Scarlet Letter shows how harshly women were once treated for committing adultery.

Definitions of adultery

1. noun

   extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations
   “adultery is often cited as grounds for divorce”

   synonyms: criminal conversation, fornication

   type of:

   extramarital sex, free love

   sexual intercourse between individuals who are not married to one another