brothel

noun

broth·​el ˈbrä-thəl  ˈbrȯ- 

 also  -t͟həl

plural brothels

: a business establishment where sex workers are available for hire

For recreation, there were bars, after-hours joints, pool halls, strip joints, brothels, and transient motels.

—Darlene Nall

Elizaveta is happy to become the madam of a high-class brothel.

—Jonathan Fast

In the brutal red-light district of Chicago, at the dawn of the 20th century, most brothels emphasized "efficiency instead of fantasy."

—Ada Calhoun

Synonyms

• bagnio
• bawdy house
• bordello
• cathouse
• disorderly house
• sporting house
• stew
• whorehouse

Examples of brothel in a Sentence

the district is infamous for its brothels and drug dealers

Recent Examples on the Web

Some of the boys and girls laboring in this brothel were even younger. —Ivan Watson, CNN, 12 Dec. 2024

By Kate Kuhlmann My friends all think their apartments used to be brothels. —Kate Kuhlmann, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2024

Katja is the head of the city’s Chamber of Commerce and the local brothel owner. —Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2024

The song powerfully captured Piaf’s own perseverance through a troubled life that included being abandoned at birth and raised in a brothel, only to endure an adulthood marked by personal calamities, physical ailments and drug and alcohol use before her death at 47 in 1963. —Alex Williams, New York Times, 24 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, worthless fellow, prostitute, from brothen, past participle of brethen to waste away, go to ruin, from Old English brēothan to waste away; akin to Old English brēotan to break — more at brittle

First Known Use

1566, in the meaning defined above