courtesan
noun
cour·te·san
ˈkȯr-tə-zən 
-ˌzan,
also ˈkər-,
-ˌzän;
especially British ˌkȯ-tə-ˈzan
plural courtesans
: a female sex worker with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele
Synonyms
Examples of courtesan in a Sentence
the protagonist of the novel is a composite of several real-life courtesans who plied their trade among the decadent aristocracy
Recent Examples on the Web
There have been two earlier biographies of Harriman, neither of them bent on re-envisioning her as a geopolitical player, as Purnell is, but content instead to present her as, well, just that, a courtesan.
—
Daphne Merkin, airmail.news, 28 Sep. 2024
The show talks about the love lives and power tussles of the courtesans of Lahore.
—Sweta Kaushal, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Queen of the Night is a big juicy epic about the many travails of an opera singer and courtesan in 18th-century France, her many enemies, and her many lovers.
—Constance Grady, Vox, 3 Dec. 2024
The title character was a French commoner turned courtesan (a polite term for high-class prostitute) who lived from 1743 to 1793.
—Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 30 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for courtesan 
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Daphne Merkin, airmail.news, 28 Sep. 2024
The show talks about the love lives and power tussles of the courtesans of Lahore.
—Sweta Kaushal, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Queen of the Night is a big juicy epic about the many travails of an opera singer and courtesan in 18th-century France, her many enemies, and her many lovers.
—Constance Grady, Vox, 3 Dec. 2024
The title character was a French commoner turned courtesan (a polite term for high-class prostitute) who lived from 1743 to 1793.
—Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 30 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for courtesan
Dictionary Entries Near courtesan
Cite this Entry
“Courtesan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/courtesan. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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