What does adulterer mean?
An adulterer is a person who commits adultery — that is, a married individual who engages in sexual relations with someone other than their spouse. The word functions as a formal noun in both British and American English and carries pronounced moral weight, reflecting centuries of religious, legal, and social condemnation of infidelity. While gender-neutral in modern usage, English has historically distinguished the male 'adulterer' from the female 'adulteress,' a pairing familiar from literature and scripture. The term appears most often in legal, historical, and literary contexts: courts once used it in divorce and criminal proceedings, and novelists have long relied on it to signal transgression and social ruin. In casual conversation, speakers tend to prefer softer phrasings such as 'having an affair' or 'being unfaithful.' Related words include 'adultery' (the act itself), 'adulterous' (describing such behavior), and 'adulterate,' which shares the same Latin root but refers instead to making something impure.
nounA person, typically a married one, who commits adultery by having sexual relations with someone other than their spouse.
- A person who commits adultery; a married person who has sexual relations with someone other than their spouse.
- More broadly, a person who engages in voluntary sexual intercourse while married to another (or, in some legal contexts, either party to such an act).
"The novel portrays him not as a villain but as a remorseful adulterer struggling to rebuild his marriage."
"The scandal forced the senator to admit publicly that he had been an adulterer for years."
"In many classic novels, the adulterer is punished less by law than by the unforgiving judgment of society."
Standard regular plural; used when referring to multiple individuals who have committed adultery.
"The chronicle describes a village in which several prominent citizens were exposed as adulterers."
In older English law and literature, an adulterer could face public shaming — the word still carries a moral sting that 'cheater' never quite matches.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of adulterer
'Adulterer' derives from the Latin 'adulter,' meaning one who commits adultery, which in turn comes from 'adulterare,' to corrupt or defile — literally to alter something toward another purpose ('ad' + 'alter'). The word entered Middle English via Old French during the medieval period, alongside its companion forms 'adultery' and 'adulteress.' Cognates appear across the Romance languages, including French 'adultère' and Italian 'adultero.' Interestingly, the same root gave English 'adulterate,' so the ideas of sexual unfaithfulness and contaminating a pure substance are etymological siblings.
Related word forms
How adulterer is actually used
The term is formal to neutral in register and carries strong moral and often religious connotations, rooted in its long association with sin and legal wrongdoing. It is gender-neutral in principle, though 'adulteress' has traditionally been used for a woman. In everyday speech people more often say 'cheated' or 'had an affair' than use this word directly.
Easily confused with adulterer
An adulterer commits sexual infidelity, while an adulterator is someone who corrupts or debases something, such as food or drugs, by adding inferior substances.