prostitution

plural prostitutions

1. uncountableusuallyEngaging 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.

   2 more examples

   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

   The FBI typically does not investigate adult prostitution, leaving it as a state and local matter, but in recent years it has made child prostitution a priority in a program the FBI calls Operation Cross Country. The program includes highway billboards asking people to call the FBI with tips.

   2013 July 29, David Ingram (reporting for Reuters), Howard Goller, Bill Trott (editing for Reuters), “FBI arrests 150 in three days in sex-trafficking sweep”, in news.yahoo.com, retrieved 29 Jul 2013

2. broadlyuncountableusuallyEngaging in sexual activity with another person in exchange for goods (not necessarily money) or services.
3. broadlyuncountableusuallyDebasement for profit or impure motives.

   The television advertising job was a prostitution of the talents of one of the great writers of the century.