Meaning & use
extra marital affair
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A secret romantic or sexual relationship that a married person has with someone who is not their husband or wife.
Grammar: Usually used with have or conduct: have an extra-marital affair.
Patterns
- have an extra-marital affair with someone
- an extra-marital affair between two people
The minister resigned after newspapers revealed his extra-marital affair.
She discovered her husband's extra-marital affair by accident.
Counselors say an extra-marital affair does not always end a marriage.
Word forms
| plural | extra-marital affairs |
|---|
Common combinations
- have an extra-marital affair
- He admitted he had been having an extra-marital affair.
- uncover an extra-marital affair
- The detective uncovered an extra-marital affair.
- confess to an extra-marital affair
- She confessed to an extra-marital affair during counselling.
- reveal an extra-marital affair
- The letters revealed a long extra-marital affair.
- allegations of an extra-marital affair
- The star denied allegations of an extra-marital affair.
Synonyms and how they differ
- affair
- Affair on its own is the everyday shortcut, while extra-marital affair makes clear that the person is married.
- infidelity
- Infidelity is a more abstract, serious word for the act of being unfaithful, not for the relationship itself.
- fling
- A fling is brief and casual, and suggests less commitment than an affair does.
- adultery
- Adultery is the formal or legal term, often found in divorce law and religious texts.
Opposites
Word family
- extramarital adjective
- outside marriage, usually describing a relationship
- marital adjective
- relating to marriage
- premarital adjective
- before marriage
- marriage noun
- the legal union of two people
Commonly confused: extra marital affair or extra-marital?
extra marital affair vs extra-marital
Do not confuse extra-marital, outside marriage, with extra material, which means additional content; the two are said almost the same way.
Practice
The couple separated after he admitted to having an ___ with a colleague.
Choose one answer.
An extra-marital affair is a relationship outside marriage. A pre-marital agreement is a contract before marriage, and the other options do not describe a secret relationship.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “extra marital affair”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.