sex work
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sex work
First recorded in 1930–35 in the sense “the academic study of sexual behavior,” and in 1980–85 for the current sense
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.
When Amnesty International updated its policy in 2016 to consider sex work a matter of personal agency and implied consent, critics included Jimmy Carter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
What’s actually new is that women can go to college and get jobs other than sex work, and at rates that were impossible to imagine a century or so ago.
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2026
At The Cupcake Girls, an anti-sex trafficking organization, we have done significant research on how the criminalization and stigma of sex work paves the way for further marginalization.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
A recent report by the British TV network Channel 4 documented these forms of blackmail occurring within the female Somali population at large, beyond the margins of sex work.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2023
In this conuco the adults of each sex work one hour in the morning and one in the evening.
From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 by Ross, Thomasina
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.
