prostitute
See also: prostitutė
Contents
English
Etymology
From Latin prōstitutus, past participle of prōstituō, from pro- (“for, before”) + statuō (“to set up, to erect”).
Pronunciation
Noun
prostitute (plural prostitutes)
- A person, especially a woman, who has sexual intercourse or engages in other sexual activity for payment.
- 2012, Kelly Olson, Dress and the Roman Woman: Self-Presentation and Society (page 50)
- Unfortunately, there is to my knowledge no visual evidence for the dress of the Roman prostitute, but the literary sources present us with a range of prostitute clothing (from rich accoutrements all the way down to nothing), […]
- 2012, Kelly Olson, Dress and the Roman Woman: Self-Presentation and Society (page 50)
- (derogatory) A person who engages in sexual activity with many people.
- A person who does, or offers to do, an activity for money, despite personal dislike or dishonour.
Usage notes
- Some speakers consider prostitutes (sex workers) to be female by default, and thus use "male prostitute" to refer to a man doing the same job.
Synonyms
- whore
- (person who performs sexual activity for payment): See also Thesaurus:prostitute
- (person perceived as engaging in sexual activity): See also Thesaurus:promiscuous woman, Thesaurus:promiscuous man
- (person who does an activity for money): sellout
Translations
a person having sex for profit
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promiscuous person — see whore
Verb
prostitute (third-person singular simple present prostitutes, present participle prostituting, simple past and past participle prostituted)
- (transitive, usually reflexively) To perform sexual activity for money.
- (transitive) To make another person, or organisation, prostitute themselves.
- Bible, Leviticus xix. 29
- Do not prostitute thy daughter.
- Bible, Leviticus xix. 29
- (transitive, derogatory) To use one's talents in return for money or fame.
- (figuratively) To exploit for base purposes; to whore.
- Yet again a commercial firm had prostituted a traditional song by setting an advertising jingle to its tune.
Related terms
Translations
to perform sexual activity for money
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to make another person, or organisation, prostitute themselves
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figuratively: to exploit for base purposes
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Italian
Noun
prostitute f
- plural of prostituta
Latin
Participle
prōstitute
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English words prefixed with pro-
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English derogatory terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Occupations
- en:Prostitution
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian noun plural forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin participle forms
