prostitution

Noun

prostitution (usually uncountable, plural prostitutions)

1. (usually) Engaging in sexual activity with another person for pay.
   • His addiction brought him to the point that prostitution was the only means he had to survive.
   • Sir Howard by his arts stole from them this their only treasure, and to conceal from them the baseness of his despicable seduction, removed to a distance the deluded couple,—loaded them with his favours,—the wages of their child's prostitution.1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter II, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 21
2. (broadly, usually) Engaging in sexual activity with another person in exchange for goods (not necessarily money) or services.
3. (broadly, usually) Debasement for profit or impure motives.
   • The television advertising job was a prostitution of the talents of one of the great writers of the century.