SINCE 1828

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

porn

noun \ ˈpȯrn \

variants: or less commonly porno play \ˈpȯr-(ˌ)nō\

Definition of porn

1 informal :pornography

watching porn

—often used before another noun

a porn star

the porn industry

a porno theater

2 plural pornos, porno , informal :a pornographic movie

… the ex-silent starlet whose voice, unfit for sound-film consumption, relegated her to pornos …
—John Simon

See porn defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of porn from the Web

In 2013, revenge porn was made a crime under the California Penal Code.

— aurelie corinthios, PEOPLE.com, "Blac Chyna Ramps Up for Court Battle with Rob Kardashian as Lawyer Warns They're Seeking Restraining Orders," 7 July 2017
The goal seems to be to slut shame Chyna and expose her body online — in other words, this could be revenge porn.

— brittney mcnamara, Teen Vogue, "Rob Kardashian Is Posting Blac Chyna's Nudes on Instagram," 5 July 2017
Magisterial District Judge Michael R. Muth, 66, whose office is located about 38 miles southeast of Scranton in East Stroudsburg, allegedly was viewing porn when clerks on different occasions walked in him.

— robert moran, Philly.com, "Pa. district judge accused of viewing porn in office," 5 July 2017
An East Hampton man was arrested on child porn charges after someone found suspected child pornography at his former address, police said.

— christine dempsey, courant.com, "Southington Police: Child Porn Found In Garage, Former Resident Arrested," 3 July 2017
Even better, porn blogs on Tumblr are often curated by bloggers whose aesthetic users trust.

— alana hope levinson, Glamour, "More Women Are Getting Off to Porn GIFs, Thanks to Tumblr," 29 June 2017
Recent articles in the Guardian and Süddeutsche Zeitung have detailed the difficult choices that Facebook faces regarding whether to delete posts containing graphic violence, child abuse, revenge porn and self-mutilation.

— julia angwin, propublica, and hannes grassegger, Ars Technica, "Facebook’s secret rules mean that it’s OK to be anti-Islam, but not anti-gay," 28 June 2017
Four of those five averaged 112 images while the fifth one had 4,688 child porn images and 31 videos.

— john sowell, idahostatesman, "Authorities shocked by Boise man’s massive collection of child porn," 27 June 2017
The interrogations that Winston undergoes in the play’s second half are graphic enough to verge on torture porn.

— travis m. andrews, Washington Post, "Audiences of Broadway’s graphic portrayal of ‘1984’ faint and vomit," 26 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'porn.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of porn

1962

Learn More about porn

See words that rhyme with porn

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What made you want to look up porn? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

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nuncupative

play

spoken rather than written

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