philanderer

American  

[fi-lan-der-er] / fɪˈlæn dər ər /

noun

1. a person, usually a man, who has many casual sexual encounters or affairs, especially when married or in a committed relationship.

   After three of his infidelities, she’d finally had enough of a husband who by all accounts had become a serial philanderer.

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Etymology

Origin of philanderer

philander ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

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Explanation

A philanderer is a guy who likes women. A lot. So much that he's got a beautiful wife — and a date with a different girl every weekend. The phil in philanderer means "love" and a philanderer's love never seems to stop. "So many ladies, so little time..." — That may just be the motto of the quintessential philanderer, those delightful serial womanizers who specialize in brief affairs of the carnal kind. A philandering husband doesn't just have a wandering eye. He also has wandering hands, and probably a long line of jilted lovers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

philanderer

And there’s the leering, preening Rupert Mannion from “Ted Lasso” — multimillionaire soccer team owner, inveterate philanderer and incurably vindictive divorcé.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

“Particularly when your disobedience threatens to upend how the business makes money. In Hollywood you can be an addict, be a philanderer, be outspoken. But don’t disrupt the cash flow.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026

Events come to a head and the skillfully written climax is so distant and chilly that it speaks to a waning of interest in the figure of the philanderer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

I could tell them he wasn’t an American veteran at all—he was Canadian, and he was actually pretty rabidly anti-American, an oil engineer–turned–environmentalist, a serial philanderer.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2024

Doris, indeed, got herself into a pretty mess with a vulgar philanderer called Lord Raymore, and was justly punished by marrying him.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, March 25, 1914 by Various

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