porn
Americannoun
-
Sometimes porno pornography; sexually explicit videos, photographs, writings, or the like, produced to elicit sexual arousal (often used attributively).
arrested for selling porn;
a porn star;
porn films.
-
television shows, articles, photographs, etc., thought to cater to an excessive, irresistible desire for or interest in something.
a magazine filled with enticing food porn; an addiction to real-estate porn.
noun
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Also called: porno. pornography
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pejorative publications or broadcasts that demonstrate an unhealthy or voyeuristic interest in a particular subject
property porn
food porn
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of porn
First recorded in 1960–65; by shortening
Compare meaning
How does porn compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Porn is an abbreviation of pornography, a type of movie, magazine, book, or website that features sex or sexual situations with no other redeeming features. Porn is different than erotica, which may also feature sex but has more artistic merit. And it's different from a mainstream movie with a few sex scenes. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said about porn, "I'll know it when I see it." People can also use the word porn to describe anything singular in focus that's meant to stir the senses: food porn, for example, features endless, excessive pictures of amazing looking food.
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.
Playwright Carla Ching wrote her new play ‘Revenge Porn or the Story of a Body’ because she rarely saw messy, human, complex characters who looked like her onstage.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 19, 2022
“Whitmer can attack every one of them,” said Bernie Porn, a Lansing-based pollster.
From Washington Times • Jul. 7, 2022
Whitmer’s job performance numbers are lagging in the region, especially up north, said Bernie Porn, president of the Lansing polling firm EPIC-MRA.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 11, 2022
Few RVs and RV parks offer the sort of luxuriously pared-down, Scandinavian-influenced style that has given birth to websites like Cabin Porn and transformed so many rundown motels in the Catskills.
From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2021
The UK's Revenge Porn Helpline, which supports many victims of intimate image abuse threats, says the development is a great start and will help stop some lives being ruined by intimate image abuse.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2021
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.
