prostitutedadj.
/ˈprɒstᵻtjuːtᵻd/, /ˈprɒstᵻtʃuːtᵻd/, U.S. /ˈprɑstəˌt(j)udəd/ 1. In early use: promiscuous, licentious, debauched; (later) made into a prostitute. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [adjective] > given over to prostitution
prostituted1565
prostitute1569
unfortunate1785
1565 T. Stapleton Fortresse of Faith f. 123 Make..of professed nonnes prostituted harlots.
1607 B. Jonson Volpone iv. v. sig. K3v She is a creature, of a most profest, And prostituted lewdnesse. View more context for this quotation
1678 R. L'Estrange tr. Of Happy Life xviii. 238 in Seneca's Morals Abstracted (1679) Augustus..was forced to banish his daughter Julia, for her Common, and Prostituted Impudence.
1781 E. Burke Speech Marriage Act Repeal Bill in Wks. X. 140 I should feel for a son who married a prostituted woman, or a daughter who married a dishonourable and prostituted man.
1823 J. Neal Errata II. vi. 124 One is almost sick of hearing of Melancholy now. She is a prostituted divinity..disrobed of her attributes.
1876 W. E. Griffis Mikado's Empire (ed. 2) i. xvi. 570 The idea of filial obedience..is the root of the worst blot on the Japanese character—the slavery of prostituted women.
2004 Foreign Affairs Jan.–Feb. 11/1 Forcibly prostituted women and sexually exploited children are not ‘sex workers’ but victims of crime, including multiple rapes daily.
2. figurative. Esp. of things: put to unworthy or dishonourable purposes, esp. for profit; degraded, debased, corrupted.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > degrading or debasement > [adjective] > degraded > by unworthy use
prostitute1563
prostituted1579
1579 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 63 I woulde..that all the ilfavorid copyes of my nowe prostituted devises were buried.
1656 F. Osborne Polit. Reflect. Govt. Turks 31 A too prostituted Familiarity breeds contempt.
1694 J. Strype Memorials T. Cranmer iii. xxxviii. 459 Bishop Boner then said..'That he dared to say, that Cranmer would Recant so he might have his Living': As though he were a Man of a prostituted Conscience, and would do any thing upon worldly Considerations.
1735 L. Theobald Fatal Secret iii. i. 28 Ask thy Fame, Thy prostituted Fame, and my wrong'd Love.
1798 T. Pennant View of Hindoostan II. 104 The encouragement which his prostituted Ministry had given to vices.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux I. i. i. 4 That galaxy of prostituted genius of which Charles II. was the centre.
1886 Times 30 Oct. 9/6 That crude and loathly realism with which Emile Zola and others had flooded French literature in the prostituted name of art.
1984 W. Percy How to be Amer. Novelist 12 He is working with a prostituted vocabulary which must either be discarded or somehow miraculously rejuvenated.
1995 Private Eye 25 Aug. 26/2 Arts and Cultures is to all appearances a normal independent, commercial publication. Nowhere..does it say it is sponsored, or quasi-official, or, to put it a little more plainly, prostituted.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1565