adultery
/əˈdʌltəɹi/noun
adultery is spelled A-D-U-L-T-E-R-Y: 8 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, adultery means “Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse. See more synonyms at Thesaurus:cuckoldry” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of adultery is adulteries.
How many letters and syllables are in adultery?
| Letters | 8: A-D-U-L-T-E-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is adultery?
Adultery appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce adultery?
- /əˈdʌltəɹi/
Adultery has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-adultery.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-adultery.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of adultery
- adulteries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does adultery mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse. See more synonyms at Thesaurus:cuckoldry
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.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
- 3
Faithlessness in religion.
- 4
obsoleteThe fine and penalty formerly imposed for the offence of adultery.
- 5
The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
- 6
Adulteration; corruption.
- 7
obsoleteInjury; degradation; ruin.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Adultery in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does adultery come 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).