Adulteration to Adventitious
Adulteration
(A*dul`ter*a"tion) n. [L. adulteratio.]
1. The act of adulterating; corruption, or debasement (esp. of food or drink) by foreign mixture.
The shameless adulteration of the coin.
Prescott.
2. An adulterated state or product.
Adulterator
(A*dul"ter*a`tor) n. [L.] One who adulterates or corrupts. [R.] Cudworth.
Adulterer
(A*dul"ter*er) n. [Formed fr. the verb adulter, with the E. ending -er. See Advoutrer.]
1. A man who commits adultery; a married man who has sexual intercourse with a woman not his wife.
2. (Script.) A man who violates his religious covenant. Jer. ix. 2.
Adulteress
(A*dul"ter*ess) n. [Fem. from L. adulter. Cf. Advoutress.]
1. A woman who commits adultery.
2. (Script.) A woman who violates her religious engagements. James iv. 4.
Adulterine
(A*dul"ter*ine) a. [L. adulterinus, fr. adulter.] Proceeding from adulterous intercourse.
Hence: Spurious; without the support of law; illegal.
When any particular class of artificers or traders thought proper to act as a corporation without a charter,
such were called adulterine guilds.
Adam Smith.
Adulterine
(A*dul"ter*ine), n. An illegitimate child. [R.]
Adulterize
(A*dul"ter*ize) v. i. To commit adultery. Milton.
Adulterous
(A*dul"ter*ous) a.
1. Guilty of, or given to, adultery; pertaining to adultery; illicit. Dryden.
2. Characterized by adulteration; spurious. "An adulterous mixture." [Obs.] Smollett.
Adulterously
(A*dul"ter*ous*ly), adv. In an adulterous manner.
Adultery
(A*dul"ter*y) n.; pl. Adulteries [L. adulterium. See Advoutry.]
1. The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man
with another than his wife, or voluntary sexual intercourse by a married woman with another than her
husband.
It is adultery on the part of the married wrongdoer.
The word has also been used to characterize the act of an unmarried participator, the other being married.
In the United States the definition varies with the local statutes. Unlawful intercourse between two married
persons is sometimes called double adultery; between a married and an unmarried person, single adultery.
2. Adulteration; corruption. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
3. (Script.) (a) Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment.
(b) Faithlessness in religion. Jer. iii. 9.
