fornication

[fawr-ni-key-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fornication ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other.

Bible. idolatry.

Origin of fornication

1300–50; Middle English fornicacioun < Late Latin fornicātiōn- (stem of fornicātiō). See fornicate¹, -ion

Related formsfor·ni·ca·to·ry

[fawr-ni-kuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /ˈfɔr nɪ kəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjective

Can be confusedformication fornication

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fornication

sex, lovemaking, copulation, intimacy, relations, coitus, coition

Examples from the Web for fornication

Contemporary Examples of fornication

Yes, cities—those reviled warts on the American imagination, the ancient sources of all sin and fornication.
The Scariest Thing About Sandy: Guarding the Water Supply
Kent Sepkowitz
October 30, 2012

Historical Examples of fornication

Fines for adultery and fornication belong to the king, not to the bishop.
The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa
Paul Barron Watson
If ye touch at the islands, Mr. Flask, beware of fornication.
Moby Dick; or The Whale
Herman Melville
The crimes of fornication and adultery are very severely punished.
Modern Persia
Mooshie G. Daniel
Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
God's Plan with Men
T. T. (Thomas Theodore) Martin
And I gave her time that she should repent; and she willeth not to repent of her fornication.
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Revelation
William Milligan

British Dictionary definitions for fornication

fornication

noun

voluntary sexual intercourse outside marriage

law voluntary sexual intercourse between two persons of the opposite sex, where one is or both are unmarried

Bible sexual immorality in general, esp adultery

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fornication

c.1300, from Old French fornicacion (12c.), from Late Latin fornicationem (nominative fornicatio), noun of action from past participle stem of fornicari "fornicate," from Latin fornix (genitive fornicis) "brothel" (Juvenal, Horace), originally "arch, vaulted chamber" (Roman prostitutes commonly solicited from under the arches of certain buildings), from fornus "oven of arched or domed shape." Strictly, "voluntary sex between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman;" extended in the Bible to adultery.

fornication in Medicine

fornication

[fôr′nĭ-kā′shən]

n.

Sexual intercourse between partners who are not married to each other.

Related formsfor′ni•cate′ v.