red-light district
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of red-light district
First recorded in 1890–95; allegedly so called because brothels displayed red lights
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.
Singaporean photographer Aik Beng Chia used an image generator to depict the lives of transgender people in the city-state's Bugis street, then known as a red-light district, in the 1970s and 80s.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
He worked as a steward on the QE2 liner and later ran The Ferry Boat pub in Norwich's red-light district.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
Ahmad’s extraordinarily accomplished first novel revolves around Faraz Ali, born to a prostitute in Mohalla, Lahore, Pakistan’s red-light district.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 7, 2022
In this quietly stunning debut novel, a midlevel police officer in Lahore, Pakistan, is sent to cover up a girl’s murder in the red-light district where he was born.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2022
It was Kirchherr’s boyfriend, Klaus Voormann, who insisted that her and their friend, Jürgen Vollmer, came with him to the spectacularly seedy Kaiserkeller in Hamburg’s red-light district on an October evening in 1960.
From The Guardian ● May 19, 2020
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.
