casting couch

noun

: a couch in an entertainment executive's office on which aspiring actresses are reputed to perform sexual acts in exchange for desired roles
broadly : the practice of abusing one's power to obtain sexual partners

Examples of casting couch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Mike Epps said a casting couch scenario stopped him from portraying Richard Pryor in a biopic. The Indianapolis Star, 8 Mar. 2024 There are no casting couches in her world, no doors being slammed in her face, no roadblocks. Andrea Nevins, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Aug. 2023 Her goal is to change that, and a culture that has historically condoned, or even joked about such behavior in the workplace, be it on the casting couch or elsewhere. Diane Garrett, Variety, 28 Mar. 2023 The casting couch, of course. Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 20 Feb. 2023 What about that casting couch? Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 30 Sep. 2022 For 10 days, the jurors on the Harvey Weinstein trial debated issues of consent, morality, the casting couch and power imbalances in Hollywood. Elizabeth Wagmeister, Variety, 20 Dec. 2022 The moment, we’re given to understand, represents a dozen others like it, but while the casting couch isn’t news, the drama here is in seeing Marilyn’s special navigation of the toxicity of Hollywood’s harassment-meets-sugar-daddy culture. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 Sep. 2022 Today, Rivera unequivocally defends Robbins — and also Bob Fosse, whose nastiness may have been worse than Strasberg’s and whose casting couch may have been busier than Kazan’s. New York Times, 8 June 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'casting couch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1931, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of casting couch was in 1931

Dictionary Entries Near casting couch

Cite this Entry

“Casting couch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/casting%20couch. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!