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Glite Dictionary
to step out on

to step out on

5 8.7
To have sex with someone else while you have a partner
  • phrasal verb
  • NSFW
translation icon : ser infiel a
  • See, my wife and I had been having some trouble in our marriage and she had stepped out on me with a young teenage boy named Ethan Collins.
  • step out on your wife

Examples

  • She felt devastated when she found out he was stepping out on her.

  • But what if your friend doesn't know her man is stepping out on her?

    Blog text (22)

  • Oh, and by the way, today I don't believe she ever stepped out on me.

    Blog text (4)

  • But anyway, she starts stepping out on me with this guy, a brawny type, so I can't exactly take him down in a fistfight.

    Academic text (2010)

  • We received a tip—if you want to call it that, it was more like a novella—from someone who claims to have insider knowledge of the many times that Pattinson has stepped out on Stewart.

    Blog text (30)

  • I discovered that my partner has been stepping out on me with someone else.

  • After years of loyalty, he never thought she would start stepping out on him.

Synonyms

to cheat on
vsto step out on
  • NSFW
323 3.3

To have sex with someone who is not your partner

is informal and used instead of the more neutral expression
to cheat
vsto step out on
  • NSFW
265 4.0

To have sex with someone who is not your partner

emphasizes the explicit sexual act rather than a general unfaithfulness
to betray
vsto step out on
  • NSFW
76 4.6

Have sex with someone who is not your partner

is the informal way to say this action without moral emphasis
to step out on someone
vsto step out on
  • NSFW
9.5

To have sex or a romantic relationship with someone who is not your partner

is limited to sexual relations and not broader romantic involvement

Antonyms

faithful
  • NSFW
120 2.1

Having sex only with your husband, wife, or partner

How Unfaithful

to cheat on
  • NSFW
323 3.3
to step out on
  • NSFW
5 8.7
to flirt
267 3.1

Surface Forms

step out on infinitive
stepped out on past
stepped out on past participle
stepping out on present participle
steps out on third person singular

Morphology

step + out + on

Although 'step' + 'out' separately suggest leaving or going outside, the idiomatic construction 'step out on (someone)' meaning 'be unfaithful' cannot be reliably derived from the literal senses of the parts; the preposition 'on' does not contribute a clear compositional meaning here. This is an informal, language-specific idiom whose sense is unpredictable for a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The verb step out on comes from the image of someone going out secretly—step out—to meet another person while leaving their partner at home. That's why step out on means 'be unfaithful' or 'cheat'.