Talk:adultery

Definitions
There are two definitions currently in use:

The first definition is historical, originally biblical that considers that sexual intercourse with a married woman (by someone other than her husband) to be adultery. The point being that sexual intercourse of a married man with an unmarried woman is not adultery. Keep in mind that we are speaking about the word adultery, not the word infidelity. This definition is still in use in some places currently.

The second, more recent (within 100 years?) definition, with the advent of womens rights, defines intercourse by a married person (of either gender) with someone outside of their marriage to be adultery.

Both are correct, and both are still in usage.

Note, extra-marital should not be used, as two unmarried people having sexual intercourse is extra-marital, and yet not adultery. 75.72.29.120 18:44, 10 February 2007 (UTC)


 * How do you figure your ideas on the biblical definition?


 * When I read Exodus 20:14, all I see is "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and that applies to women as well as to men. I agree with only needing one definition as I don't think your reasoning holds up.  Adultery applies to men and women equally. &mdash; V-ball 19:22, 10 February 2007 (UTC)


 * 1 included in 2


 * Apparently the discriminant view of the bible doesn't stand & no sources cited on such claim & in both dictionary definitions as here for example http://www.bartleby.com/61/13/A0101300.html & biblical definition as here http://www.godweb.org/blT0000100.htm and http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/adultery.html which say


 * SEXUAL ADULTERY -- "Conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had sexual intercourse with a woman he was not married to, either a married woman or one who was engaged to be married. A woman who did the same thing was an adulteress... "


 * Author: Matthew G. Easton.


 * are both consistent with the 2nd definition (the wider one) so unless sources are cited for the 1st definition it should be omitted as it already included in definition 2 GamerXp 09:44, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Is it adultery even if the marriage has been agreed to be open?
If not, the definition should take care of this nuance. Everything Is Numbers (talk) 09:12, 24 October 2012 (UTC)


 * It is. The definition does take care of this nuance...it says it is adultery for a married person to have sexual intercourse with someone other than their spouse. You only have to ask two questions: is the person married?; did this person have sex with someone other than his or her spouse? If the answers to both of those questions is "yes", then it is adultery. If either or both answers are "no", then it is not adultery. —Stephen (Talk) 10:20, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

RFC discussion: April 2018–May 2019
The quotation for sense 7 is really messy and needs to be reformatted. —Globins 23:07, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Cleaned up the quote - though perhaps someone should look at the senses here as well? -- 71.121.210.36 17:27, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Cleaned up some more. – Jberkel 08:16, 16 May 2019 (UTC)