prostitute
Americannoun
-
prostitutes
plural
-
a person who engages in sexual intercourse or other sex acts for money; sex worker.
- Synonyms:
- strumpet, trollop, courtesan, streetwalker, call girl
-
a person who willingly uses their talent or ability in a base and unworthy way, usually for money.
verb (used with object)
-
prostitutes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
prostituted,
past participle, past
-
prostituting
present participle
-
to sell or offer (oneself) to provide sex acts for money.
-
to put to any base or unworthy use.
to prostitute one's talents.
noun
-
a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
-
a man who engages in such activity, esp in homosexual practices
-
a person who offers his talent or work for unworthy purposes
verb
-
to offer (oneself or another) in sexual intercourse for money
-
to offer (a person, esp oneself, or a person's talent) for unworthy purposes
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
prostitutesimple
-
prostitutessimple
-
have prostitutedperfect
-
has prostitutedperfect
-
am prostitutingprogressive
-
are prostitutingprogressive
-
is prostitutingprogressive
-
have been prostitutingperfect progressive
-
has been prostitutingperfect progressive
Past
-
prostitutedsimple
-
had prostitutedperfect
-
was prostitutingprogressive
-
were prostitutingprogressive
-
had been prostitutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prostitute
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin prōstitūta and prōstitūtus, noun uses of feminine and masculine forms of prōstitūtus, past participle of prōstituere “to place before, expose (for sale),” equivalent to prō- “before” + -stitū-, combining form of statuere “to make stand” + -tus past participle suffix; see pro- 1, status
Explanation
A prostitute is someone who gets paid to have sex — the word usually refers to a woman, but there are male prostitutes as well. These days a prostitute is often called a sex worker, and there are many slang words, such as hooker and whore, that mean the same thing. A prostitute works for a pimp and her customers are called johns. You could say a woman is prostituting herself, or that the pimp is prostituting her. Sometimes people who hate their jobs feel like they're prostituting themselves, even though no sex is involved.
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:
The authors were radical women from various backgrounds—one was an impoverished widow and another a onetime prostitute, while a third had been a princess who chopped off her hair moments before her wedding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
I should mention that the saintly striver is all the while giving support to a former prostitute, hoping to open a hospital and enduring a lung condition with a terminal prognosis.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
A skeleton covered in red ochre, which is naturally occurring iron oxide, Prof Buckland presumed The Red "Lady" to be a Roman prostitute, or witch.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2023
What exactly made him cut off part of his ear and give it to a prostitute in Arles, in the south of France?
From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2022
She was also an advocate for “free love,” a blackmailer, an accused bigamist, possibly a prostitute, and a spiritualist who claimed she channeled the spirit of Demosthenes, a statesman from ancient Greece.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
Always allergic to the lofty and the monumental, he proved a brilliant observer of life, especially life on the margins: He wrote with empathy of refugees, prostitutes, thieves, drunks and the homeless.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2023
India is among a small handful of countries, including Canada and New Zealand, that have instituted legal protections for prostitutes.
From New York Times ● May 27, 2022
An Irish immigrant ministers to prostitutes from a South Bronx project.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2021
Often clashing with archdiocese leaders, Pfleger has made a name for himself by using unconventional tactics such as paying prostitutes to counsel them and defacing alcohol and cigarette billboards.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2021
Would someone bury them, or would they believe they were really thieves and prostitutes?
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
Key to the Nordic model, now implemented in Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Northern Ireland, Canada, France, Ireland and Israel, is creating an exit strategy for prostituted people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
He suggested, instead, that the prostituted should be offered a way out of the business, via housing, job training and other services.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2019
If you follow the Nordic model, you are obligated to offer services and alternatives to the people who are prostituted.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 17, 2015
Sweden and other Nordic countries plus France have decriminalized and offer services to those who are prostituted, and criminalize the pimps and brothels who sell them.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2014
He could not dismiss or even suspend the defrauders of the revenue or the public wretches who prostituted their official power for gold.
It isn’t about prostituting our pain of, you know, “Great. I’m going to go out there and purge all my emotions because I’m so damaged.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2022
Former Postmaster General Benjamin Bailar resigned from his position on the Citizen's Advisory Stamp Committee, stating that the Potter stamps amounted to "prostituting" the US stamp programme.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2017
Police said they do not think Lopez Aguilar was involved in trafficking or prostituting of the girls, but the investigation led police to the missing girls.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2017
At Penn State, it was even worse than prostituting education for the sake of a football powerhouse.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2011
At night he began to have trouble sleeping, to feel he was prostituting his conscience and his editorial responsibilities.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
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.
