working girl
Americannoun
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Older Use: Often Offensive. a woman who works.
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Slang. a prostitute.
noun
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a girl or woman who works, esp one who supports herself
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informal a prostitute
Sensitive Note
The meaning “woman who works” has declined in use because of possible confusion with the other meaning, “prostitute.” And the use of girl to refer to an adult woman is often perceived as insulting and demeaning. See also girl.
Etymology
Origin of working girl
First recorded in 1860–65 working girl for def. 1; 1965–70 working girl for def. 2
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.
Not funny enough to be a stand-up comic or sit-down humorist, I did piecemeal assignments about being a single working girl for women's magazines.
From Salon • Jun. 18, 2022
"With extensions becoming more accessible to the everyday working girl, clients feel safer taking the plunge into a shorter haircut."
From Fox News • Sep. 1, 2021
Parents who could afford it employed wet-nurses - a respectable profession for the working girl, and an early casualty of Liebig's invention.
From BBC • Jul. 23, 2017
The song doesn't just flaunt Sadie's temperament but connects it to her predicament, thus building sympathy for a character who comes off like an old Hollywood cliché of a working girl.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2016
Joan Crawford made a specialty of the working girl role, in movies like Sadie McKee and Dancing Lady, and also did the heiress in Love on the Run and I Live My Life.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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.
