Fornication
noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Sexual intercourse by people who are not married to each other, or which is considered illicit in another way. countable, uncountable
"FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed— BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country; And besides, the wench is dead."
- 2 extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations wordnet
- 3 Sexual intercourse in general; sex. colloquial, countable, uncountable
"For a moment he stared at the back of the Lascar, wondering if he were the youth that he had disturbed during fornication with his Engineer, then dismissed all thoughts of the previous night, he was getting old, and suspicious, what did it matter […]"
- 4 voluntary sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other wordnet
Example
More examples"If throughout your life you abstain from murder, theft, fornication, perjury, blasphemy, and disrespect toward your parents, your church, and your king, you are conventionally held to deserve moral admiration even if you have never done a single kind or generous or useful action."
Etymology
From Middle English fornicacioun, from Old French fornicacion, from Latin fornicātiō, from fornix (“brothel”).
Related phrases
More for "fornication"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.