infidelity

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪnfɪˈdɛlɪti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

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

• (marital): Synonyms: adultery; see also Thesaurus:cuckoldry
• (moral): betrayal
• (religious): faithlessness

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “moral”): faithfulness
• (antonym(s) of “moral”): loyalty
• (antonym(s) of “moral”): fidelity

Related terms

• (religious): infidel

Translations

unfaithfulness in marriage or other moral obligation

• Arabic: خِيَانَة (ar) f (ḵiyāna)
• Asturian: infidelidá f
• Belarusian: няве́рнасць f (njavjérnascʹ)
• Bulgarian: невя́рност (bg) f (nevjárnost)
• Catalan: infidelitat f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 異心 / 异心 (zh) (yìxīn), 不貞 / 不贞 (zh) (bùzhēn)

• Czech: nevěra f
• Dutch: ontrouw (nl) m
• Finnish: uskottomuus (fi)
• French: infidélité (fr) f
• Galician: infidelidade (gl)
• German: Untreue (de) f
• Hungarian: hűtlenség (hu)
• Irish: mídhílseacht f
• Macedonian: неверство n (neverstvo), неверност f (nevernost)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utroskap m

• Ottoman Turkish: زنا (zinâ)
• Polish: niewierność (pl) f
• Portuguese: infidelidade (pt)
• Romanian: infidelitate (ro) f
• Russian: неве́рность (ru) f (nevérnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: adhaltranas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: неверност f, невјерност f

  Roman: nevernost f, nevjernost (sh) f

• Slovak: nevera f
• Slovene: nezvestoba f
• Spanish: infidelidad (es) f
• Swedish: otrohet (sv) c
• Turkish: ihanet (tr), aldatma (tr)
• Ukrainian: неві́рність f (nevírnistʹ)

lack of religious belief

• Arabic: كُفْر m (kufr), زَنْدَقَة (ar) f (zandaqa)
• Catalan: infidelitat f
• Czech: nevíra f
• Dutch: areligieus (nl)
• Finnish: uskottomuus (fi)
• Galician: infidelidade (gl) f
• Hungarian: hitetlenség (hu), pogányság (hu)
• Irish: ainchreideamh m, éigreideamh m
• Manx: anchredjuaght f
• Ottoman Turkish: كفر (küfr)
• Polish: niewiara (pl) f
• Portuguese: infidelidade (pt) f
• Russian: безве́рие (ru) n (bezvérije), безбо́жие (ru) n (bezbóžije), неве́рие (ru) n (nevérije)
• Scottish Gaelic: neo-chreidmheachd f
• Spanish: infidelidad (es) f

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

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} ontrouw (nl) c

Further reading

• infidelity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia