brothel
[ broth-uhl, broth-, braw-thuhl, -thuhl ]
/ ˈbrɒθ əl, ˈbrɒð-, ˈbrɔ θəl, -ðəl /
noun
a house of prostitution.
QUIZZES
WHO SAID IT: A QUIZ ON PRESIDENTIAL WIT AND WISDOM
Think you know your presidents? Take this quiz and see if you can match the style, wit, and ideology of these memorable lines to the right POTUS.
Question 1 of 9
“I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”
Origin of brothel
1350–1400 for earlier sense; short for brothel-house whore-house; Middle English brothel harlot, originally worthless person, equivalent to broth- (past participle stem of brethen,Old English brēothan to decay, degenerate) + -el noun suffix
OTHER WORDS FROM brothel
broth·el·like, adjectiveWords nearby brothel
bros., brose, Brossard, bro talk, broth, brothel, brother, brotherhood, brother-in-law, Brother Jonathan, brotherly
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for brothel
The documentary Ukraine Is Not a Brothel, directed by Kitty Green, opens in a most unusual way.
Femen’s Abusive Patriarch, Victor Svyatski, Exposed in 'Ukraine Is Not a Brothel’|Marlow Stern|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEASTOne hour into Ukraine Is Not a Brothel, Green sits down with Victor for an interview.
Femen’s Abusive Patriarch, Victor Svyatski, Exposed in 'Ukraine Is Not a Brothel’|Marlow Stern|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
British Dictionary definitions for brothel
brothel
/ (ˈbrɒθəl) /
noun
a house or other place where men pay to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes
Australian informal any untidy or messy place
Word Origin for brothel
C16: short for brothel-house, from C14 brothel useless person, from Old English brēothan to deteriorate; related to briethel worthless
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012