Paramour

//ˈpæɹ.əˌmʊɚ// adv, noun, verb

adv, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An illicit lover, either male or female. dated

    "to run away with a paramour"

  2. 2
    a woman who cohabits with an important man wordnet
  3. 3
    The Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ (when addressed by a person of the opposite sex). obsolete
  4. 4
    a woman's lover wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To go with a paramour; to have an affair.

    "The paramouring matron left / A babe and husband both bereft;"

Adverb
  1. 1
    Passionately, out of sexual desire. not-comparable, obsolete, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms
concubineconcubinedoxymistressadmireradorer

Example

More examples

"She spent the weekend with her paramour."

Etymology

From Middle English paramour, paramoure, peramour, paramur, from Old French par amor (“for love's sake”). The modern pronunciation is apparently an Early Modern English readaptation of the French.

Related phrases

out-paramourout-paramour the Turkjesus christvirgin mary

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.