noun
adulterer
uh-DUL-ter-er/əˈdʌltərər/
A married person who has sex with someone other than that person’s spouse.
The novel reveals that the married protagonist is an adulterer.
Etymology
Adulterare covered sexual unfaithfulness as well as corruption or falsification. The person-forming ending selects the sexual sense here, naming someone who violates a marriage through sex outside it.
In context
Old Testament law lists a number of behaviors that were punishable by death, including adultery. “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death”
More examples
- She accuses her husband of being an adulterer after discovering the affair.
- The story examines the adulterer's deception of his spouse.
- The preacher condemns adulterers in the sermon.
Forms
adulterer · adulterers
Similar words
- unfaithful spouse
- The broader phrase can cover breaches of commitment besides sex.
- philanderer
- A philanderer habitually pursues casual relationships; an adulterer is defined by sex outside an existing marriage.