DictionaryAI

prostitute

PROS-ti-toot/ˈpɹɑːstətuːt/UKPROS-ti-tyoot/ˈpɹɒstɪtjuːt/

Pluralprostitutes

Verbprostitutes, prostituting, prostituted

7 meanings of prostitute

Practice

  1. 1
    sex workernouncountable
    A person, most often a woman, who engages in sexual activity for payment, especially as a way of earning a living.

    Outreach workers hand out health information to prostitutes in the city's red-light district.

    In the novel, a young prostitute becomes the only witness to the crime.

    UsageMany people and groups now prefer sex worker, which sounds less judging.

  2. 2
    sell sexverbreflexivetransitive
    To make oneself or another person sexually available for payment.

    In the novel, poverty drives a young widow to prostitute herself on the docks.

    The ring's leaders were convicted of prostituting women they had smuggled across the border.

    Similarsell

    Note

    The person offered is the object, either oneself (she prostituted herself) or someone else, as in the King James Bible of 1611: "Do not prostitute thy daughter." The blame in that construction falls on whoever does the offering.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  3. 3
    sell outverbtransitive
    To sacrifice oneself or one's talents for money or other advantage; to exploit something for unworthy ends.

    Critics accused the director of prostituting his gifts on a string of forgettable sequels.

    Few scientists would prostitute their findings to please a corporate sponsor.

    UsageUsually with an abstract object: prostitute your talent, prostitute your art.

    Similarcheapen, debase, degrade

    Note

    The figurative verb is an accusation, never a neutral description: it charges someone with selling what should not be for sale. Its objects are usually abstract, such as talents, findings or principles, and in John Dyer's The Ruins of Rome (1740) a people prostitute their ancient rights, laws and native freedom to sale in the vile streets.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • John Dyer wrote The Ruins of Rome, first published in 1740. en.wikipedia.org
    • The poem depicts the Romans prostituting their ancient rights, laws and freedom for sale in the streets. en.wikisource.org
  4. 4
    nounderogatorycountable
    A person who does, or offers to do, something demeaning or dishonorable for money or personal gain.

    To his former colleagues, he was a corporate prostitute who would argue any position for the right fee.

    Critics dismissed the hired reviewers as prostitutes churning out praise for whoever paid.

    Similarsellout

    Note

    The insult that goes with the figurative verb: a prostitute in this sense has sold out, and sellout is its close synonym. Its force comes from the sexual meaning, and speakers play the two against each other, as when Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream called Madonna a total prostitute in 2019 and added that he had nothing against prostitutes.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Bobby Gillespie belongs to Primal Scream. en.wikipedia.org
    • In 2019 Gillespie called Madonna a total prostitute and added that he had nothing against prostitutes. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    adjective
    Sexually promiscuous or licentious; in later use, chiefly before a noun, working as a prostitute.

    The study interviewed prostitute women about their safety on the street.

    Outreach workers offer free health checks to prostitute women working near the station.

    Similarlicentious, promiscuous, wanton

    Oppositechaste

    Note

    Two layers sit in this adjective. The older one meant licentious, describing conduct or manners; the later one is chiefly the noun placed before another noun, as in prostitute women, a phrasing Niki Adams and Lisa Longstaff use in their 2008 letter to The Guardian. That attributive use names a person's work, while the older one passed moral judgment.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  2. 6
    adjectiveobsolete
    Corrupt and degraded, willing to stoop to dishonorable methods for one's own advantage.
    [H]e speaks a languages that merits not reply, and which can only excite contempt for his prostitute principles, or pity for his ignorance.
    1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
    Note

    An old adjective of political scorn, meaning sold out and corrupt: Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (1791) dismisses an opponent's prostitute principles. A modern reader would hear the sexual meaning instead, so the sense belongs to reading older prose rather than to new writing, where corrupt or venal says it without confusion.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The adjective historically meant corrupt or debased and was used in political scorn. en.wiktionary.org
    • Thomas Paine wrote Rights of Man, first published in 1791. en.wikipedia.org
    • Paine uses 'prostitute principles' to disparage his opponent Burke's principles. en.wikisource.org
  3. 7
    adjectiveobsolete
    Exposed or subjected to something shameful.
    As a matter of ease, exposed and prostitute to every Mother-wit, and to be attained without any great care or study.
    1651, Thomas Hobbes, Philosophicall rudiments concerning government and society
    Note

    Here the Latin picture behind the selling verb is at its plainest: what is prostitute is set out before everyone, open to all comers. Thomas Hobbes pairs it with exposed in 1651, writing of something exposed and prostitute to every mother-wit. The use is long obsolete, and a modern reader would mistake it for the sexual sense.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The word's Latin derivation combines the ideas of 'before' and 'set up'. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Latin source supports the image of something publicly exposed or set out. en.wiktionary.org
    • The English work containing Hobbes's passage was published in 1651. en.wikisource.org
    • Hobbes's author's preface pairs 'exposed' with 'prostitute' in the quoted phrase. en.wikisource.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of prostitute apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Latin prōstituō was made from prō ("for, before") and statuō ("to set up, to erect"), and its past participle prōstitūtus is the source.