Quick Definition
μοιχεύω v. I commit adultery
Strong's Definition
from 3432; to commit adultery
KJV Usage: commit adultery
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
verb | μοιχάομαι
88.276 · Moral and Ethical Qualities and Related Behavior · Sexual Misbehavior
to commit adultery, adultery sexual intercourse of a man with a married woman other than his own spouse From the standpoint of the NT, adultery was normally defined in terms of the married status of the woman involved in any such act. In other words, sexual intercourse of a married man with an unmarried woman would usually be regarded as πορνεία ‘fornication’ (88.271), but sexual intercourse of either an unmarried or a married man with someone else’s wife was regarded as adultery, both on the part of the man as well as the woman. In view of the married status of the woman being the determining factor in μοιχάω, μοιχεύω, μοιχάομαι, μοιχεία, and related terms (88.277-88.278), there is a significant contrast with πορνεύω and related expressions (88.271). πορνεύω, however, may be regarded as more generic in meaning, and thus in certain contexts including adultery.
The parallel expression to LUK 16:18 in MAT 5:32 is somewhat different: πᾶς ὁ ἀπολύων τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ παρεκτὸς λόγου πορνείας ποιεῖ αὐτὴν μοιχευθῆναι, usually rendered as ‘anyone who divorces his wife for any cause other than fornication makes her guilty of committing adultery,’ presumably on the implication that she would marry someone else, as is implied in the final clause of MAT 5:32.
MAT 5:27 · MAT 5:28 · MAT 5:32 · MAT 19:18 · MRK 10:19 · LUK 16:18 · LUK 16:18 · LUK 18:20 · JHN 8:4 · ROM 2:22 · ROM 2:22 · ROM 13:9 · JAS 2:11 · JAS 2:11 · REV 2:22
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
μοιχεύω ; fut. μοιχεύσω ; 1 aor. ἐμοίχευσα; Pass., pres. ptep. μοιχευομένη ; 1 aor. inf. μοιχευθῆναι ; (μοιχός) ; fr. Arstph. and Xen. down; Sept. for 5835 10 commit adultery; a. absol. (to be an adulterer): Mt. v. 27; xix. 18; Mk. x. 19; Lk. xvi. 18; xviii. 20; Ro. ii. 22; xiii. 9: ease 11: b. τινά (γυναῖκα), to commit adultery with, have unlawful intercourse with another’s wife: Mt. y. 28 (Deut. v. 18; Lev. xx. 10; Arstph. av.558; Plat. rep. 2 p. 800 b.; Leian. dial. deor. 6,3; Aristaenet. epp. 1, 20; Aeschin. dial. Socr. 2, 14); pass. of the wife, to suffer adultery, be debauched: Mt. v. 32
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
μοιχεύω moicheuō 15x
trans. to commit adultery with, debauch, Mt. 5:28; absol. and mid. to commit adultery, Mt. 5:27; Jn. 8:4; to commit spiritual adultery, be guilty of idolatry, Rev. 2:22
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
μοιχεύω
(< μοιχός), [in LXX: Ex 20:13, Le 20:10, al. (נאף);]
to commit adultery: absol., Mt 5:27 19:18, Mk 10:19, Lk 16:18 18:20, Ro 2:22 13:9, Ja 2:11; c. acc. fem., Mt 5:28. Pass., of the woman, Mt 5:32 19:9 WH, mg.), Jo 8:[4]. Metaph., of idolatry (v.s. μιοιχαλίς, and cf. Je 3:9, al.), seq. μετ’ αὐτῆς, Re 2:22.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
μοιχεύω, ‘commit adultery ’”’ on the part of the man, occurs in the astrological PSI III. 1584 (iii/a.p. ?) οἱ δὲ καὶ τὰς ἰδ[) ας γυναῖκας μοιχεύουσιν : cf. Mt 5*8. For a discussion of the verb and its cognates in later classical and in Jewish Greek ef. R. H. Charles, Zhe Teaching of the New Testament on Divorce (London, 1921) p. 91 ff., and see s.v. πορνεύω, also Wackernagel, Hedlentstica, p. 9.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
μοιχεύω (moicheuō) — to commit adultery. μοιχ-εύω, commit adultery with a woman, debauch her, with accusative, [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, of the woman, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
2. metaphorically, worship idolatrously, τὸ ξύλον καὶ τὸν λίθον [LXX]
II. intransitive, commit adultery, [Refs 6th c.BC+]
III. metaphorically, in future middle (in passive sense), οὐ μοιχεύσεταί μου τὰ φιλήματα her kisses shall not be adulterously stolen from me, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]