1. 1. A class of women kept by wealthy lovers or protectors.
   2. Women prostitutes considered as a group.
2. A group whose respectability is dubious or whose success is marginal: the literary demimonde of ghost writers, hacks, and publicists. Also called demiworld.

[French demi-monde : demi-, demi- + monde, world (from Latin mundus).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.