brothel
Americannoun
-
brothels
plural
noun
-
a house or other place where men pay to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes
-
informal any untidy or messy place
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of brothel
First recorded in 1350–1400, for an earlier sense; short for brothel-house “whorehouse”; Middle English brothel “harlot,” originally, “worthless person,” from broth- (past participle stem of brethen, Old English brēothan “to decay, degenerate”) + -el, noun suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Poor Things” features Bella, a reanimated woman who has to invent her life, and her guideposts are a prostitute, a brothel madam and a former actress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
Of course, his Spanish background was essential to his genius: “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” was named after a brothel in Barcelona, and “Guernica” was a response to a fascist atrocity in the Spanish Civil War.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 22, 2023
In the show, Louis is a Creole brothel owner who travels in white circles, lamenting in the pilot that he can’t be an “openly gay Negro man.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2022
He teamed it with a silver neck chain and earring plus white brothel creepers for extra height.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2022
The sept tempted him no more than the brothel; his own gods kept their temples in the wild places, where the weirwoods spread their bone-white branches.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Bars, brothels, warehouses and religious missions grew around the buildings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2024
A South Korean court has ordered Japan to compensate a group of women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War Two.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2023
The two countries have long been at odds over restitution for Koreans forced to work in Japanese firms and military brothels during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
From Reuters ● Aug. 19, 2021
The Tabor Opera House quickly grabbed the attention of a bustling, rowdy city full of competing theaters, saloons and brothels.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2021
Tom Johnson saw this as Mayor of Cleveland; he knew that strict law enforcement against saloons, brothels, and gambling houses would not stop vice, but would corrupt the police.
From A Preface to Politics by Walter Lippmann
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