2021-04-08 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – A – adultery

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2021-04-08

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – A – adultery

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ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค

Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง adultery = ‘uh-DUHL-tur-ree’

Dictionary.com

VOCAB BUILDER

What does adultery mean?

Adultery is a consensual sexual relationship or encounter

between someone who’s marriedand a person they’re not married to

(who may or may notbe married to someone else).

In other words, it can be between two people

who are both married to other people,

orbetween a married person and a nonmarried person.

Typically, for something to be considered adultery,

at least one of the partners must be married.

On the other hand, similar words like

cheating, infidelity,and unfaithfulness can be used

regardlessof whether either person is married

—they simply refer to a(usually sexual) relationship

or encounterbetween people when one

or bothof them is in a committed relationship with someone else.

When it happens with someone other than one’s spouse,

a long-term relationship (often called an affair),

a single sexual encounter,

or anything in between can be considered to constitute adultery.

In some cases, a relationshipmay even be considered adultery

when it’s nonsexual but intimate

(this is sometimes called an emotional affair).

The word adultery is especially used in a religious context,

in which it’s often considereda sin.

For that reason, it’s often used with the verb commit.

It’s alsosometimes used in a legal context,

such as during divorce proceedings.

Adultery is a crime in some places

(including in some U.S. states, though people aren’t often charged for it).

Adultery is associated with a considerable amount of stigma.

The word adultery and its related terms are always used negatively

and imply a critical judgment of such actions.

Someone who participates in adultery can be calledan adulterer.

Such peopleor relationships can be described as adulterous.

The word adulteress specifically refers to a woman who has engaged in adultery.

(It has been more common throughouthistory for women to be blamed—and punished—for adulterous relationships than men.)

Example: Adultery is a profound breach of trust in a marriage.

Where does adultery come from?

The first records of the word adultery come from the 1300s.

It ultimately derives from the Latin verb adulterāre,

meaning“to defile.”

The same word is the basis of the English verb adulterate,

meaning“to debase” or “to make impure.”

Adultery involves adults, but the word adult is based on a different root.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” is one of the Ten Commandments, and adultery is specifically prohibited by multiple religions

and even some laws.

In the past, adultery was sometimes used in a more general way

to refer to any type of sexual activity considered sinful.

Today, however, adultery typically means

that at least one of the partners is married

(whereas the word fornication is often used in a religious context

to referto any sex outside of marriage).

Dictionary.com

Why Is It Called “Adultery”

When It’s Not A Particularly“Adult” Thing To Do?

Our society’s constant obsession

with relationships and especially celebrity marriages

—with their ups and downs, and often very salacious details

—can lead us to wonder and ask big questions

about the words we use to talk about love, commitment, and desire.

While this isn’t People magazine or “Dear Abby,”

perhaps we can use our natural curiosity as an excuse

to look ata dilemma of language

that is as enigmatic asthe state of marriage itself:

the complexities of adult and adultery.

How can such similar words have such different meanings?

Two words from different roots

Remarkably, the answer is that

the words don’t share a common ancestor.

Adult comes from the Latin verb adolescere, “to grow up, mature.”

Adultery,on the other hand, derives from the Old French word, avoutrie, which in turn evolved from a distinct Latin verb, adulterare, “to corrupt.”

 The verb adulterate, “to debase or make impure

by adding inferior materialsor elements,” stems from the same source.

The sense of adult that means “pornographic”

emergedas a kind of reverse assumption

that adult and adultery have more direct links than they do.

The two types of adultery

Let’s look at the dictionary definition of adultery:

“voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person

and someone other than hisor her lawful spouse.”

In fact, there are two types:

single adultery (with an unmarried person) and

double adultery (with a married person.)

Here is the definitionof adult:

“having attained full sizeand strength; grown up; mature.”

What conclusions can we draw

regarding relationshipsfrom these twists of etymology?

Maybe that a real-lifedefinition of adult

is the condition of being responsible for our choices,

and that the choice of whom to love and honor

is probably the most adult decision of all.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

What’s the difference between adultery and fornication?

In case you were wondering,

the words adultery and adult are not etymologically related

(in other words, adultery didn’t grow out of adult

in the waythat punditry grew out of pundit).

Although both words come fromLatin

and share the same first five letters,

adultery is from adulterāre (“to pollute, defile, commit adultery”),

a word formed ultimately fromthe Latin elements

ad- “to, near” and alter “other.”

English adult comes from adultus, which is

the past participleof the Latin word adolescere (“to grow up”).

In legal usethere is a difference between adultery and fornication.

Adultery is only used when at least one of the parties involved

(either male or female) is married,

whereas fornication may be used to describe

two people who are unmarried (to each other or anyone else)

engaging in consensual sexual intercourse.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Adulterine

Definition: bornof adultery

Bastard is a useful word in many settings

and has a wide array of forms,

but we recognize that not everyone shares this sentiment.

Should you have need of such a word

but circumstances(or your own sense of decorum)

make the B-word unpalatable,

you might perhaps consider adulterine.

In addition to its adjectivalsense

adulterine may also function as a noun (“one who is born of adultery”),

ormay be used to mean “spurious” or “illegal.”

The children of the Marquis de Boefle, and those of the Marquis de Langey, are all, considered in a certain point of view, no other than bastards and adulterines; and, under another, they are a legitimate offspring, entitled to the rights, the honours, and the privileges of society.
— M. de Lignac, A Physical View of Man and Woman in a State of Marriage, With Anatomical Engravings, 1798

Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary

adultery

“Adultery” is often misspelled “adultry,”

as if it were something every adult should try.

This spelling error is likely to get you snickered at.

The term does not refer to all sorts of illicit sex:

at least one of the partners involved has to be married

for the relationship to be adulterous.