infidelity
/ɪnfɪˈdɛlɪti
/noun (plural infidelities) [mass noun]
1The action or state of being unfaithful to a spouse or other sexual partner: her infidelity continued after her marriage [count noun]: I ought not to have tolerated his infidelities...
- Sure, there are drugs and infidelities and deviant sexuality, but that's the exception for this otherwise decent lot.
- Affairs, infidelities, sexual peccadilloes fall generally outside the purview of inquisitive political eyes; at any rate, they do not make for fodder for a dirty election campaign.
- My lovely partner, Patrick, suffered the knowledge of my infidelities and witnessed my mental, physical, and spiritual decay.
Synonyms
unfaithfulness, adultery, unchastity, cuckoldry, extramarital relations, extramarital sex;
faithlessness, disloyalty, falseness, breach of trust, treachery, double-dealing, duplicity, deceit, perfidy, perfidiousness;
affair, liaison, intrigue, amour
informal fooling around, playing around, playing the field, cheating, two-timing, hanky-panky, a bit on the side
formal fornication
2Disbelief in a particular religion, especially Christianity.It is said that he wouldn't stay in a room with men whose conversation was marked by infidelity and blasphemy....
- As a result of their infidelity, the people descended into moral and spiritual corruption.
- They are the righteous ones whose garments have not been soiled by infidelity to the patron of the universe.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the senses 'lack of faith' and 'disloyalty'): from Old French infidelite or Latin infidelitas, from infidelis 'not faithful' (see infidel).