scarlet woman

[ skahr-lit woom-uhn ]

noun

1. a sexually promiscuous woman, especially a prostitute or a woman who commits adultery.
2. a symbol of pagan Rome or, derogatorily, of the church of Rome.

scarlet woman

noun

1. New Testament a sinful woman described in Revelation 17, interpreted as a figure either of pagan Rome or of the Roman Catholic Church regarded as typifying vice overlaid with gaudy pageantry
2. any sexually promiscuous woman, esp a prostitute

Word History and Origins

Origin of scarlet woman¹

First recorded in 1810–20; from the Bible, in which an enemy of God personified as “the whore of Babylon” is described as dressed in scarlet and purple

Idioms and Phrases

A prostitute, an immoral woman, as in Malicious gossip had it that she was a scarlet woman, which was quite untrue . This expression first appeared in Revelation 17:5, describing Saint John's vision of a woman in scarlet clothes with an inscription on her forehead, “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” Some interpreters believe she stood for Rome, drunk with the blood of saints, but by about 1700 the term was being used more generally for a woman with loose morals.

Example Sentences

You would see movies with Bette Davis in them, and just because she wore a red gown, she was, "Oh, a scarlet woman, a red gown."

From Salon

“This focus portrayed Ms. Andrew as a scarlet woman, a modern Jezebel, sparking distrust based on her loose morals. The drumbeat on Ms. Andrew’s sex life continued in closing argument, plucking away any realistic chance that the jury would seriously consider her version of events.”

From New York Times

Susan Bradshaw as a scarlet woman?

From Literature

We were English, and so had only those morally laden English words to deal with: words like scarlet woman, and adulteress.”

From Washington Post

The I, Tonya star remained a scarlet woman at the Vanity Fair party... from the waist down at least.

From BBC