demimondaine
9.9
A woman who lives on the edge of respectable society and is often supported by rich men
- noun
- /ˌdɛmɪmɒnˈdɛn/
- NSFW
:
demimondaine
- Often shunned by their peers, demimondaines formed a unique community on the fringes of polite society.
Examples
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On the one hand, their representations of demimondaines marked the artists' deference to the earlier Realist works of Courbet and Manet.
Academic text (2007) -
In 19th century Paris, many demimondaines frequented the luxurious salons, often enchanting wealthy men.
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The book vividly describes the lives of demimondaines, who navigated the complexities of love and society.
Synonyms
13
9.9
A woman who has sex with rich or powerful men for money, often in high society in the past
is broader, meaning a woman on society's fringe often including prostitutes
How Respectable
Surface Forms
demimondaine singular
demimondaines plural
Morphology
Etymology
Demimondaine comes from the French phrase demi-monde, which means 'half-world', from demi- 'half' and monde 'world'. A demimondaine was a woman who lived in that 'half-world' on the edge of polite society, so the word refers to women who were not fully accepted by respectable people.