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

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

The divorce papers were signed in July 2015, but in October, he was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel. —Mya Abraham, VIBE.com, 20 Nov. 2024

That October, Odom was rushed to the hospital after his years-long battle with drug addiction came to a head when he was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel. —Esther Kang, People.com, 19 Nov. 2024

As many as four devices that regularly pinged from Ramstein Air Base were later tracked to nearby brothels off base, including a multistory facility called SexWorld. —Dhruv Mehrotra, WIRED, 19 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