Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

What’s the Difference Between Cheating and Having an Affair?

Cheating can be brief or one-time, while an affair usually involves an ongoing pattern of intimacy, secrecy, and repeated deception.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

People say “cheating” and “affair” like they mean the same thing, but most of us hear something different when each word comes up. One sounds like a terrible decision. The other sounds like somebody had a second relationship while still coming home for dinner.

Research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health uses infidelity as the broader term for secret emotional, sexual, or romantic behavior that breaks the understood rules of a relationship. Cheating and affairs both fall in there. The difference usually comes down to how long it went on, how involved........

© Vice