This is an interesting discussion with good points made by all. I can add a little bit that might be helpful. As mentioned by the editors above the dictionay definition and a legal definition are not the same and one state's legal definition might be different from another's. So why not say this in the article. What definition a reader needs or wants depends on their purpose. For example, if a young person is reading a book meant for older persons and comes across the word adultery, his needs will be far different than those of a lawyer who's client walks in and says, "They charged me with 'adultery'; what's that?" In the first case the reader might need nothing more than a dictionary definition (or perhaps a little more, particularly that it is rare for someone to go to jail for it), and in the second case, the lawyer will want to explain all the elements of the crime (each thing that must be proved by the government in order to find someone guilty, including that it was done knowingly, etc.).

 The beginning could say: "Adultery, in some jurisdictions a crime or a tort (a civil wrong) is generally defined as (insert dictionary definition). However in the legal context of a person actually being charged with adultery as a crime or cited as a grounds for a divorce or other lawsuit, a more precise definition would be required.

 The term adultery usually refers to the rarely prosecuted common law or statutory crime relating to having extra-marital relations, but usually in an informal or literary context not in a legal context.

 In ordinary usage the vagueness of the term is not a hindrance to communication, as the scope of the term is understood to change from context to context, some requiring more specifics than others. In a legal sense, residents of the United States, for example, understand that such laws differ from state to state, and even from time to time as laws are changed, and thus any legal use of the term is understood to require new research practically any time it comes up."

 This is just a proposal off the top of my head and after reading what some of the other editors have said. Any coments? (BTW, I came to this article ecause I was looking at the list of disputed articles and I wondered why this one was on the list.)