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
He was the son of a prostitute, who died when he was 5, and was raised by an aunt in Jacarezinho, a favela in the city.
From New York Times ● May 10, 2023
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
“She faced trauma. I want to humanize her. I don’t want her to be seen as a prostitute or a runaway or somebody that people feel like, ‘Oh well, they live that lifestyle.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 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
At 24 Debs was elected Terre Haute city clerk, where the extent of his heterodoxy was waiving criminal fines against prostitutes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Botero early in his career seized on sharp visual contrasts: Tiny snakes, parrots, flies and bananas adorn his portraits of blimpy bullfighters, bishops, prostitutes, acrobats, ballroom dancers and politicians.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2023
As Sister Hermann Marie, Sukowa brings to bear the weight of past roles when lecturing on grief and magical thinking: philosopher Hannah Arendt, mystic Hildegard von Bingen, prostitutes and militants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2022
He took characters normally portrayed in thick stereotype — prostitutes, gay men, addicts, housewives, trans women — and made viewers care about their happiness.
From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 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
“Art, music, architecture, literature, all seem to have been prostituted in this commercial age to the greed for money,” Brundage wrote in “The Significance of Amateur Sport.”
From New York Times ● May 2, 2024
“Because this demand cannot be met locally, traffickers will bring prostituted women and girls from other jurisdictions,” said Toni Van Pelt, president of the National Organization for Women, which opposes the bill.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 17, 2019
“He prostituted his own son’s death,” she told me.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 28, 2017
He could not dismiss or even suspend the defrauders of the revenue or the public wretches who prostituted their official power for gold.
Mr. Russell promised to be “as balanced as is humanly possible, without prostituting myself,” adding, “There are so many controversial issues that I have to double up to save time.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
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
Last month, Benjamin Bailar, a prominent stamp collector who served as postmaster general from 1975 to 1978, angrily resigned from the committee after accusing the postal service of "prostituting" its stamps program.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2014
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
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