fornication
/ˌfɔɹnɪˈkeɪʃən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.71 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Sexual intercourse by people who are not married to each other, or which is considered illicit in another way.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed— BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country; And besides, the wench is dead."
- "I am the sister of one Claudio, Condemned upon the act of fornication To lose his head, condemned by Angelo"
- "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."
- "Draw not near unto fornication; for it is wickedness, and an evil way"
- "In one case, where a man was sued for committing fornication with his wife before marriage, it appeared, that seven years after her death he was cited to stand as a prisoner at their bar, though he had lived with her for nine years,[…]"
- "... that he was a married man at the time is a necessary allegation, as the allegation that he was an unmarried man would have been necessary had he been charged with the crime of incest, by having committed fornication with his daughter."
Etymology
From Middle English fornicacioun, from Old French fornicacion, from Latin fornicātiō, from fornix (“brothel”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *gʷʰer-, fornicacioun, fornicacion, fornicātiō