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infidelity

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English infidelite,[1] from Middle French infidelité (modern French infidélité) and its etymon Latin īnfidēlitās.[2][3] Equivalent to infidel +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌɪnfɪˈdɛlɪti/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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infidelity (countable and uncountable, plural infidelities)

  1. Unfaithfulness in a marriage or an intimate (sexual or romantic) relationship: practice or instance of having a sexual or romantic affair with someone other than one's spouse, without the consent of the spouse.
    • 2013, William G. Staples, Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility, →ISBN, page 155:
      Your friends tell you rumors about your girlfriend's infidelity or you remember being broken up around the time the baby was conceived.
  2. Unfaithfulness in some other moral obligation.
    • 1937, Arnold Oskar Meyer, England in German opinion throughout the centuries, page 6:
      It was disastrous that England's infidelity towards Frederick the Great — which no one, not even a German, condemned more strongly than did William Pitt — had to affect one of the most popular heroes of our national history.
  3. (obsolete) Lack of religious belief.
    • 1674, Seth Ward, Seven Sermons:
      The means used to this purpose are partly didactical, and partly protreptical; demonstrating the truth of the gospel, and then urging the professors of those truths to be stedfast[sic] in the faith, and to beware of infidelity.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References

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  1. ^ infidelitẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ infidelity, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  3. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “infidelity (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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