adulterer

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /əˈdʌltərər/ UK /əˈdʌltərə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a person who engages in extramarital sexual relations

In the novel, the adulterer is consumed by guilt.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who engages in... cheaterphilandererfornicatorparamour

Word family

Related forms adulteryadulterousadulteress

Etymology

An altered form of Middle English avouter, from Old French avoutre, remodelled on Latin adulter ('adulterer'), from adulterare ('to commit adultery'), from ad- ('to') + alter ('other').

adulter Latin alter Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# adulterer

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /əˈdʌltərər/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈdʌltərə/

## Meanings
1. a person who engages in extramarital sexual relations

## Examples
- In the novel, the adulterer is consumed by guilt.

## Synonyms
- cheater
- philanderer
- fornicator
- paramour

## Related Forms
- adultery
- adulterous
- adulteress

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: adulter
- Root: alter

## Etymology
An altered form of Middle English avouter, from Old French avoutre, remodelled on Latin adulter ('adulterer'), from adulterare ('to commit adultery'), from ad- ('to') + alter ('other').

## AI Etymology
adulterer is an altered form of Middle English avouter, from Old French avoutre, remodelled on Latin adulter ('adulterer'), from adulterare ('to commit adultery'), from ad- ('to') + alter ('other'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "a person who engages in extramarital sexual relations", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as adultery, adulterous, adulteress, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Latin adulter, Latin alter, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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