fornication

From Middle English fornicacioun, from Old French fornicacion, from Latin fornicātiō, from fornix (“brothel”).

• enPR: fôr'nĭ-kā'shən, IPA^(key): /ˌfɔɹnɪˈkeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

fornication (countable and uncountable, plural fornications)

1. Sexual intercourse, especially on the part of an unmarried person.
2. (law) The act of such illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman which does not by law amount to adultery.
   • 1589 or 90, Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta, Act IV:

     FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed—

     BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country;

     And besides, the wench is dead.

   • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act V, Scene 1:

     I am the sister of one Claudio,

     Condemned upon the act of fornication

     To lose his head, condemned by Angelo

   • 1611, King James Version, Galatians 5:19–21:

     Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

• See also Thesaurus:copulation

• fornicatory