infidelity

English

Etymology

From Middle French infidélité, from Latin infidelitas. Equivalent to infidel +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌɪnfɪˈdɛlɪti/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

infidelity (countable and uncountable, plural infidelities)

Unfaithfulness in a marriage or an intimate relationship: practice or instance of having a sexual or romantic affair with someone other than one's spouse, without the consent of the spouse.
- 2013, William G. Staples, Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility, →ISBN, page 155:
  Your friends tell you rumors about your girlfriend's infidelity or you remember being broken up around the time the baby was conceived.
Unfaithfulness in some other moral obligation.
- 1937, Arnold Oskar Meyer, England in German opinion throughout the centuries, page 6:
  It was disastrous that England's infidelity towards Frederick the Great — which no one, not even a German, condemned more strongly than did William Pitt — had to affect one of the most popular heroes of our national history.
Lack of religious belief.
- 1674, Seth Ward, Seven Sermons
  The means used to this purpose are partly didactical, and partly protreptical; demonstrating the truth of the gospel, and then urging the professors of those truths to be stedfast^[sic] in the faith, and to beware of infidelity.

Synonyms

(marital): adultery
(moral): betrayal
(religious): faithlessness

Antonyms

(moral): faithfulness
(moral): loyalty
(moral): fidelity

Related terms

(religious): infidel

Translations

unfaithfulness in marriage or other moral obligation

Arabic: خِيَانَة‎ f (ḵiyāna)
Asturian: infidelidá f
Belarusian: няве́рнасць f (njavjérnascʹ)
Bulgarian: невя́рност (bg) f (nevjárnost)
Catalan: infidelitat f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 異心／异心 (zh) (yìxīn), 不貞／不贞 (zh) (bùzhēn)
Czech: nevěra f
Dutch: ontrouw (nl) m
Finnish: uskottomuus (fi)
French: infidélité (fr) f
Galician: infidelidade (gl)
German: Untreue (de) f
Hungarian: hűtlenség (hu)
Irish: mídhílseacht f
Macedonian: неверство n (neverstvo), неверност f (nevernost)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: utroskap m
Polish: niewierność (pl) f
Portuguese: infidelidade (pt)
Romanian: infidelitate (ro) f
Russian: неве́рность (ru) f (nevérnostʹ)
Scottish Gaelic: adhaltranas m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: неверност f, невјерност f
Roman: nevernost f, nevjernost (sh) f
Slovak: nevera f
Slovene: nezvestoba f
Spanish: infidelidad (es) f
Turkish: ihanet (tr), aldatma (tr)
Ukrainian: неві́рність f (nevírnistʹ)

lack of religious belief

Arabic: كُفْر‎ m (kufr), زَنْدَقَة‎ (ar) f (zandaqa)
Catalan: infidelitat f
Czech: nevíra f
Finnish: uskottomuus (fi)
Galician: infidelidade (gl) f
Hungarian: hitetlenség, pogányság (hu)
Irish: ainchreideamh m, éigreideamh m
Manx: anchredjuaght f
Polish: niewiara (pl) f
Portuguese: infidelidade (pt) f
Russian: безве́рие (ru) n (bezvérije), безбо́жие (ru) n (bezbóžije), неве́рие (ru) n (nevérije)
Scottish Gaelic: neo-chreidmheachd f
Spanish: infidelidad (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: ^{(please verify)} ontrouw (nl) c