infidelity

[in-fi-del-i-tee]

noun

plural

infidelities 

1. marital disloyalty; adultery.

2. unfaithfulness; disloyalty.

3. lack of religious faith, especially Christian faith.

4. a breach of trust or a disloyal act; transgression.

infidelity

/ ˌɪnfɪˈdɛlɪtɪ /

noun

1. lack of faith or constancy, esp sexual faithfulness

2. lack of religious faith; disbelief

3. an act or instance of disloyalty

Word History and Origins

Origin of infidelity¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin infidēlitās; equivalent to infidel + -ity

Example Sentences

The judgment comes after months of contentious hearings that uncovered scathing allegations about their relationship including accusations of infidelity, drug addiction and abuse.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He has also recently been in the headlines after ex-wife Lily Allen's new record West End Girl offered a detailed account of their split, amid accusations of infidelity.

Read more on BBC

For writers in the 1960s, middle-class infidelity offered a keyhole to deeper social themes—“the relation of individual to collective decadence,” the critic Wilfrid Sheed wrote of Updike’s fiction.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They also said Naso used to speak about "infidelity" and how "Dodo used to hit her".

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Her despairing stories about infidelity and lies unfold across 14 chapter-like songs.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• adultery 
• affair 
• betrayal 
• duplicity 
• treachery