pedophile
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of pedophile
First recorded in 1950–55; pedo- 1 + -phile, or directly from Greek paidóphilos “loving children”
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.
Michael Jackson’s celebrity is so blinding, his music so compelling, that it cloaks him with an almost impenetrable shield from the truth: He was a stone cold pedophile.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
“Objective: get newspapers to stop calling you a pedophile and get the truth out; tamp down and ultimately stop the bad press; start generating positive press about your community involvement,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026
His ceaseless struggle to get Reubens to fully open up creates a crisp tension in two installments, showing how deeply scarred Reubens was by the manufactured scandals that falsely branded him a pedophile.
From Salon • Dec. 17, 2025
Card’s son also told police that paranoia about strangers calling him a pedophile had become a recurring theme for his father since last winter.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 31, 2023
No one even bothered to call Ramaswamy a pedophile, that’s how bad off he was.
From Slate • Jun. 14, 2023
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
