criminal conversation
Americannoun
noun
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(formerly) a common law action brought by a husband by which he claimed damages against an adulterer
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another term for adultery
Etymology
Origin of criminal conversation
First recorded in 1760–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Nor should courts tolerate speculative and vexatious actions for criminal conversation and alienation of affection.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2016
Adultery also figures as a basis for demotions, as a ground for tort liability in cases alleging criminal conversation and alienation of affection, and as a factor in allocating property and custody in divorce cases.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2016
I have seen him do it; I have caught him in criminal conversation with a pen and a sheet of paper; bottle at hand— A quo, ceu fonte perenni, Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur aquis.
From Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series by George Robert Aberigh-Mackay
In Ireland the action for criminal conversation is still retained.
From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg
There was no room for equivocation; he had been caught in the very act of criminal conversation with the hare-pie.
From The House by the Church-Yard by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
