as in extramarital
relating to or being a sexual encounter or relationship between a married person and someone other than their spouse
had an adulterous affair that nearly destroyed his marriage
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of adulterous
Nor did anyone blink when Shonda Rhimes set Scandal within the White House of a wishy-washy, adulterous GOP President who’d unwittingly stolen an election.
—
Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Feb. 2025
The aforementioned two seasons of Big Little Lies featured Kidman as Celeste Wright, a rich former lawyer and now Monterrey stay-at-home mom with an abusive, adulterous, and freshly dead husband that’s all based on a Liane Moriarty novel.
—Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 13 Sep. 2024
Sorcerers, lovers, traitors, heroes saintly or adulterous, iconic women of power.
—Elizabeth Hand, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
The new version strips down the book’s narrative, concentrating on the plight of an adulterous airline pilot (Cage) who’s forced to land a plane after all the good Christians are called up to heaven.
—Emily Heller, Vulture, 12 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for adulterous
Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Feb. 2025
The aforementioned two seasons of Big Little Lies featured Kidman as Celeste Wright, a rich former lawyer and now Monterrey stay-at-home mom with an abusive, adulterous, and freshly dead husband that’s all based on a Liane Moriarty novel.
—Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 13 Sep. 2024
Sorcerers, lovers, traitors, heroes saintly or adulterous, iconic women of power.
—Elizabeth Hand, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
The new version strips down the book’s narrative, concentrating on the plight of an adulterous airline pilot (Cage) who’s forced to land a plane after all the good Christians are called up to heaven.
—Emily Heller, Vulture, 12 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for adulterous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adulterous
Adjective
-
Each of them offers money and position but nothing much in the way of pleasure, excitement, intellectual stimulation, or the prospect of anything other than a life of loveless, socially irreproachable tedium possibly brightened by the occasional extramarital affair.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Sep. 2025
-
Some employees choose to keep their relationship secret because such relationships are banned in their organization, others choose secrecy for privacy reasons or because the relationship is extramarital.—
Kim Elsesser,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
This has affected attendance, participation in extracurricular activities and communication within school communities.—
Alan J. Borsuk,
jsonline.com,
30 Aug. 2025
-
The Saline Area Senior Center is also open, and extracurricular activities are able to continue in the building.—
Jalen Williams,
Freep.com,
28 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Adulterous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adulterous. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share