Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Sexual intercourse between people who are not married to each other, especially when considered as a sin.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An arching; the forming of a vault or convexity; a hollowing, vaulting, or arching over; a cameration.
- noun The state of being fornicated or vaulted.
- noun The act of illicit sexual intercourse on the part of an unmarried person with a person of the opposite sex, whether married or unmarried.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Unlawful sexual intercourse on the part of an unmarried person; the act of such illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman as does not by law amount to adultery.
- noun Adultery.
- noun Incest.
- noun Idolatry.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
sexual intercourse , especially on the part of an unmarried person. - noun law The act of such illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman which does not by law amount to adultery.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun voluntary sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other
- noun extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I think fornication is better for you, the stones are smaller ….
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Words that sound funny after you say them repeatedly (ex. “tampons,” “smorgasbord,” “gleen”) and what they start to sound like (gleen=the word for fornication in the language of Sleestacks).
Intersomnolence Wendy Wimmer 2011
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To those whom I have told this story since, some have disputed whether this was correct application of the sharia, primarily upon two grounds: (1) that she was not a Believer, and therefore sharia cannot apply, or (2) that the punishment for fornication is merely a hundred lashes, not the death by stoning required for adultery.
The Parable of the Spider darkerblogistan 2009
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Words that sound funny after you say them repeatedly (ex. “tampons,” “smorgasbord,” “gleen”) and what they start to sound like (gleen=the word for fornication in the language of Sleestacks).
Intersomnolence Wendy Wimmer 2011
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In the first Epistle which we have, the subject of fornication is alluded to only in a way, as if he were rather replying to an excuse set up after rebuke in the matter, than introducing for the first time [Alford].
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The image of a harlot's hire for the supposed temporal reward of spiritual fornication, is more common in Scripture (Ho 9: 1).
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Scripture fornication is the standing image of idolatry; they are in fact ever spoken of as one and the same sin, considered now in its fleshly, now in its spiritual aspect (Jer 3: 1-15; Eze 16: 1-17: 24) [Trench].
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Therefore fornication is not indifferent, since it is a sin against one's own body, which, like the Lord for whom it is created, is not to be destroyed, but to be raised to eternal existence.
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I would not for my life commit a mortal sin; but even should it come to that, I know that simple fornication is not to be compared to the sin of homicide.
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Note, The sin of fornication is a great injury in a Christian to his head and lord, and
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721
drumr4evr commented on the word fornication
consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other -- compare ADULTERY
September 13, 2007