demimonde
noun
demi·monde
| \ ˈde-mi-ˌmänd
, ˈde-mē-\
, ˈde-mē-\
Definition of demimonde
1a
: a class of women on the fringes of respectable society supported by wealthy lovers
also
: their world
b
: the world of prostitution
2
: a distinct circle or world that is often an isolated part of a larger world
a night in the disco demimonde
especially
: one having low reputation or prestige
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Synonyms for demimonde
Synonyms
demiworld, half-world, netherworld, underbelly, underworld
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Examples of demimonde in a Sentence
a documentary examining the demimonde to which homosexuals were relegated before the start of the gay rights movement
Recent Examples on the Web
The movie’s a character study of a scene, the Soviet rock demimonde of the early 1980s, with characters based on real people and a deep sense of inside baseball. — Ty Burr, BostonGlobe.com, "‘Leto’ revisits Soviet socialist rock ’n’ roll," 31 July 2019 The audience is welcomed into the scarlet (for passion) demimonde of Parisian’s legendarily scandalous nightclub: The signature windmill spins in the balcony, on the left, and the mascot elephant sits on the right. — Peter Marks, Washington Post, "Will you love ‘Moulin Rouge!’ as a stage musical? Well, you’ll certainly fall in like.," 25 July 2019 Like Bette Midler—one of Bernhard’s early idols—who got her start performing in New York’s bathhouses, Bernhard was embraced by the drag demimonde. — Ariel Levy, The New Yorker, "Sandra Bernhard on Leaving Bitchy Behind," 24 June 2019 But the resulting work, chronicling events in a Parisian nocturnal demimonde of the recent past from the point of view of a club deejay, is vivid and discomfiting: The bartender from the Kat calls me one morning, late, drunk. — Luc Sante, Harper's magazine, "A Crew of Variegated Weirdos," 10 Jan. 2019 Truth be told, the list of collaborators doubles as a who’s who of New York's creative demimonde. — Olivia Martin, Town & Country, "Get an Exclusive Preview of Object & Thing, New York's Newest Art and Design Fair," 2 May 2019 In between Shanghai was a sprawling, hyperenergetic demimonde of opium dens, gambling casinos, and illicit dance halls. — Monitor Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, "10 best books of July: the Monitor's picks," 12 July 2018 Vincent’s bar is home base for a vast demimonde ensemble: mobsters, cops, pimps, pornographers, construction workers, streetwalkers and the post-Stonewall gay community. — James Poniewozik, New York Times, "Review: HBO’s ‘The Deuce’ Works a Vibrant Hustle in the Naked City," 7 Sep. 2017 But nobody in particular can be identified except some members of the scroungy New Orleans-Dallas-Galveston demimonde. — Avi Selk, Washington Post, "You can thank Oliver Stone’s sensationalized 1991 movie for the JFK document release," 21 Oct. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'demimonde.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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