fornication
fornication Lexical Profile
fornication Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Consensual sexual intercourse between two people who are not married to each other, especially when viewed in a religious, moral, or historical legal context.
"In seventeenth-century colonial courts, individuals accused of fornication were frequently subjected to public fines or ecclesiastical censure."
Word Nuance & Usage
In strict legal and ecclesiastical contexts, fornication specifically denotes sexual intercourse between unmarried individuals, whereas adultery requires at least one participant to be legally married to another person.
• Rhymes for fornication
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French fornication, from Late Latin fornicatio, ultimately derived from Latin fornix ('vaulted arch' or 'vaulted underground chamber'), because Roman brothels were commonly housed in underground vaulted cellars.