paramour

[par-uh-moo r]

See more synonyms for paramour on Thesaurus.com

noun

an illicit lover, especially of a married person.
any lover.

Origin of paramour

1250–1300; Middle English, from the phrase par amour by or through love < Old French

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for paramour

beau, mistress, sweetheart, concubine, admirer, courtesan, steady, escort, girlfriend, inamorata, boyfriend, doxy, inamorato

Examples from the Web for paramour

Contemporary Examples of paramour

Sadly, he had to leave his paramour behind in the Sunshine State.
Jersey Shore Season 3 Premieres: Where We Left Off
The Daily Beast
January 5, 2011
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford spent last weekend in Florida with Maria Belen Chapur, his Argentinian paramour.
Mark Sanford Is a Romantic Hero
Ben Crair
June 26, 2009

Historical Examples of paramour

The king himself now asserts it was because he had tried to seduce his paramour.
Cyropaedia
Xenophon
It is so easy to punish the woman, and yet it is not proved that she was worse than her paramour.
Broken Bread
Thomas Champness
How can you be the paramour type if you refuse to fall in love foolishly?
The Perfectionists
Arnold Castle
I deduced he was her paramour, husband or close relative, perhaps a brother.
Valley of the Croen
Lee Tarbell
For some months she enjoyed with her paramour all for which she had sighed in her home.
Paul Clifford, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for paramour

paramour

noun

mainly derogatory a lover, esp an adulterous woman
an archaic word for beloved (def. 2)

Word Origin for paramour

C13: from Old French, literally: through love

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 paramour

c.1300, noun use of adverbial phrase par amour (c.1300) "passionately, with strong love or desire," from Anglo-French and Old French par amour, from accusative of amor "love," from amare "to love" (see Amy). Originally a term for Christ (by women) or the Virgin Mary (by men), it came to mean "darling, sweetheart" (mid-14c.) and "mistress, concubine, clandestine lover" (late 14c.).