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DictionaryadulteressWoman committing adultery
noun

adulteress

uh-DUL-ter-us/əˈdʌltərəs/

A married woman who has sex with someone other than her spouse.

The adulteress kisses her lover beside a photograph of her husband.

A married adult woman wearing a wedding ring tenderly embraces and kisses an adult man different from the spouse shown beside her in a small wedding photograph; fully clothed, nonexplicit domestic vignette.
Etymology
adulterLatincommit adultery; corrupt
+essFrenchfemale agent

Adulterare could mean both “corrupt” and “commit adultery.” The feminine ending identifies a woman as the person committing this violation of marriage.

In context

Jews for Judaism68:58
the woman who's an a suspected adulteress, and she has to go through a very horrifying and humiliating trial ordeal in the temple where she'd either be exonerated or she'd be convicted
THE MUSSAR PATH OF PERSONAL GROWTH – Rabbi Michael Skobac – Jews for Judaism

More examples

  • The court record accused the married woman of being an adulteress.
  • The story questions the harsh treatment of the adulteress.
  • The essay compares portrayals of the adulteress and her lover.

Forms

adulteress · adulteresses

Similar words

adulterer
Adulterer can identify a person who commits adultery; adulteress is the specifically female, often dated form.
lover
Lover does not by itself establish that either person is married to someone else.