Other forms: adulteresses
An adulteress is a married woman who is unfaithful. Branded an adulteress, the adulteress of the story, called her an adulteress.
It is archaic and appears now in older novels, in the Bible and in history. The male form adulterer exists, but it was the woman who was punished in most legal systems and it is her word that carries the weight, which is worth noticing.
1nounadulteressA married woman who is unfaithful.
“In the old novel, the whole village turned against her, calling her an adulteress.”
adulteress is an old term.
From adulterer plus the feminine ending -ess, from Latin adulterare, to corrupt.
From adulter + ess. In later use typically apprehended as the female equivalent corresponding to adulterer instead.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA