slut

[ sluht ]

See synonyms for slut on Thesaurus.com

noun

Disparaging and Offensive. a person, especially a woman, who is sexually promiscuous.
Informal. a person with a seemingly insatiable but often undiscerning desire to do or have something specified: guilty of being a shoe slut; a book slut, reading five books at once.

Archaic.
- a prostitute; harlot.
- an immoral or dissolute woman.
- a dirty, slovenly woman.

Origin of slut

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English slutte; compare dialectal slut “mud,” Norwegian (dialectal) slutr “sleet, impure liquid”

word story For slut

In the early 1400s, when slut first appeared in English, it meant roughly what one sense of slattern means today: a slovenly, untidy woman or girl. It also apparently meant “kitchen maid” (”She is a cheerful slut who keeps the pots scrubbed and the fires hot.”). By the end of the 15th century, the sense “a woman given to immoral or improper conduct” had come into use, but this meaning is not current today. Interestingly, slattern also developed the meaning "prostitute, harlot." Some feminists have reclaimed the word slut and use it to mean a sexually liberated woman.

Words Nearby slut

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use slut in a sentence

slut-Shaming Helen of Troy Emily Wilson, The New Republic If we blame her for the Trojan War, what does that say about us?
The Daily Beast’s Best Longreads, May 3, 2014 | | May 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
In Boston, a bunch of Neanderthals threatened to hold a “pimp walk” in response to the slut Walk.
Slut Walks Don't Help Women | Kirsten Powers | May 19, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
"slut," the message popped up from someone named "ArtsyFartsy" as soon as I activated the app.
Sex in the Time of GPS | Clark Harding | February 1, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
Such rude candour on "The Cub-slut's" part had made her feared; so that nobody durst provoke her in the slightest degree.
Csar or Nothing | Po Baroja Baroja
"The Cub-slut" stood firm before Csar, provocative, with flashing eyes, in an attitude of challenge.
Csar or Nothing | Po Baroja Baroja

This island was of the drift formation, and as late as half a century ago, a portion of it still remained, being called slut Bush.
The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the Northmen | B. F. De Costa
Then suspecting that she was shut up with a gallant, he struck great blows upon the door and began to shout 'slut!
Penguin Island | Anatole France
"The Cub-slut" answered in the negative, by an energetic movement of her head.
Csar or Nothing | Po Baroja Baroja

British Dictionary definitions for slut

slut

/ (slʌt) /

noun

derogatory a dirty slatternly woman
derogatory an immoral woman

archaic a female dog

Origin of slut

C14: of unknown origin

Derived forms of slut

sluttish, adjective
sluttishly, adverb
sluttishness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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