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fidelity

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 26 August 2026
Image
Pietro da Cortona, Venus as Huntress Appears to Aeneas (1631).[n 1] The painting depicts a scene from Virgil’s Aeneid in which the goddess Venus (right) appears in the form of a huntress to her son Aeneas (centre) and his friend Achates (left) to direct them to the palace of Dido, queen of Carthage. Achates has been long regarded as the paragon of a faithful friend.

Etymology

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    From Late Middle English fidelite (“allegiance, fealty; faithfulness, trust; agreement made in good faith”),[1] from Old French fidélité (“faithfulness, fidelity”) (modern French fidélité), from Latin fidēlitās (“faithfulness, fidelity”), from fidēlis (“dependable, trustworthy; faithful, loyal”) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns denoting a state of being). Fidēlis is derived from fidēs (“belief, faith; confidence, trust; loyalty, fidelity; etc.”)[2] (from Proto-Indo-European *bʰidʰ-, the zero-grade of *bʰeydʰ- (“to convince; to trust”) (whence English bide)) + -ēlis (a variant of -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship)). Doublet of fealty.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    fidelity (countable and uncountable, plural fidelities)

    1. (uncountable) Often followed by to or towards: faithfulness or loyalty towards a person, a group, one's civic or moral duties, etc.; allegiance; (countable) an instance of this.
      Antonym: infidelity
      the fidelity of the civil servants to their country
      • 1684, Thomas More, “Of Their Military Discipline”, in [Gilbert Burnet], transl., Utopia: […], London: […] Richard Chiswell […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 163:
        [T]hey ſerve thoſe that hire them, both vvith much courage and great Fidelity; but vvill not engage to ſerve for any determin'd time, and agree upon ſuch Terms, that the next day they may go over to the Enemies of thoſe vvhom they ſerve, if they offer them a greater pay: […]
      • 1802 December 17 (date written), Jeremy Bentham, “Panopticon versus New South Wales. Chapter VIII. Remedies Unavailing—Temporal.”, in John Bowring, editor, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, […], volume IV, Edinburgh: William Tait, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., published 1843, →OCLC, page 225, column 2:
        In the ordinary intercourse of life, fidelity to engagements is a virtue: why? because in the ordinary intercourse of life, among the engagements taken there is not one in a thousand, the execution of which is not beneficial to the community upon the whole.
      1. Faithfulness or loyalty to one's partner or spouse, including restraint from romantic or sexual relationships with third parties.
        Antonym: infidelity
        • 1791, Jeremy Bentham, “§ 16. Provision for Liberated Prisoners.”, in Panopticon: Postscript; Part II: Containing a Plan of Management for a Panopticon Penitentiary-house, London: […] T[homas] Payne, […], →OCLC, pages 222–223:
          In vvhat other houſe, public or private, can equal ſecurity be found for the fidelity of the married, for the chaſtity of the ſingle, and for the extinction of drunkenneſs, that murderous infatuation, in compariſon of vvhich every thing elſe that goes by the name of vice is virtue?
      2. (archaic) Faithfulness to God and one's religion.
        Near-synonym: faith
        Antonyms: infidelity, irreligion, nullifidianism
        Hypernym: loyalty
    2. (by extension, uncountable)
      1. Accuracy, or exact correspondence, to some given fact or quality; exactness.
        Antonym: infidelity
      2. (ecology) The closeness of association between an organism and a plant community.
      3. (technology) Chiefly in high fidelity, low fidelity, etc.: the degree to which a system accurately reproduces an input such as an image or sound.
        • 2003, Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth International Conference on Very Large Databases, Berlin, Germany, 9-12 September, 2003, page 58:
          By placing them closer to the source, we can reduce the number of messages in the system and this in turn is likely to improve the fidelity of the system.
        • 2004, High-Fidelity Medical Imaging Displays, Aldo Badano, Michael J. Flynn, Jerzy Kanicki, →ISBN:
        • 2008, David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox, Absolute Ultimate Guide for Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, →ISBN, page S-305:
          The isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase has a proofreading function that ensures the fidelity of the aminoacylation reaction, but the histidyl-tRNA synthetase lacks such a proofreading function.
    3. (obsolete)
      1. (countable) In by one's fidelity, to break fidelity, to give fidelity, etc.: one's pledge or promise to act in good faith; an oath, a word of honour.
      2. (uncountable) Of a person: honesty, trustworthiness; (countable) an instance of this.
        • 1534 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatice vpon the Passion of Chryste (Vnfinished) […]. The Second Lecture vpon the Blessed Sacrament.”, in Marye Basset [i.e., Mary Basset], transl., edited by Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 10 May 1557 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, page 1344, column 2:
          [O]ure lord Jeſus hymſelfe dooth tetifye vnto vs that we receiue hys body and blood. Ought we to doubte of his fidelitie and testimony?
        • 1597, Richard Hooker, “Of Preaching by Reading Publiquely the Bookes of Holie Scripture; and Concerning Supposed Vntruthes in Those Translations of Scripture which We Allow to be Read; as also of the Choice which Wee Make in Reading”, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, book V, section 19, page 29:
          [T]he Church by her publique reading of the booke of God preacheth only as a vvitneſſe. Novv the principall thing required in a vvitneſſe is fidelitie.
        • 1662, Edward Stillingfleet, “Of the Phænician and Ægyptian History”, in Origines Sacræ, or A Rational Account of the Grounds of Christian Faith, […], London: […] R[obert] W[hite] for Henry Mortlock […], →OCLC, book I, page 30:
          Having thus cleared the antiquity of Sanchoniathon, and the Phœnician Hiſtory, vve are to next to conſider the fidelity of it. This Sanchoniathon is highly commended for, both by Porphyry, and his Tranſlator into Greek, […]

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    Notes

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    1. ^ From the collection of the Louvre in Paris, France.

    References

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    1. ^ “fīdẹ̄litẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
    2. ^ “fidelity, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2026; “fidelity, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

    Further reading

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