meet-cute

noun

ˈmēt-ˌkyüt

variants or less commonly meet cute

plural meet-cutes also meet cutes

: a cute, charming, or amusing first encounter between romantic partners (as in a movie)

It's a meet-cute where they fall immediately in love: her because he's handsome; him because she forgets a pen to write with.—

Mark Abraham

Rom-com tropes like the "meet-cute" are so tired that you can't just spoof them—you have to spoof the spoofs …—

Stephan Lee

… upper-middlebrow "meet cutes" such as in Nora Ephron's popular You've Got Mail …—

James Wolcott

meet cute intransitive verb

or less commonly meet-cute

met cute also met-cute; meeting cute also meeting-cute; meets cute also meets-cute

In a charmingly old-fashioned plot, they meet cute, and she thinks it's true love … —

David Hiltbrand

… a picture-perfect love story about a man who uses paper planes to track down the woman he "met cute" at the train station. —

Huma Qureshi

… leading two people on a chase through the streets of Paris until they meet-cute in front of the Eiffel Tower. —

Deb Amlen

Did you know?

Isn’t it cute how two words can be introduced to each other and become an inseparable pair soon after? Well, that’s exactly what happened when meet and cute got together in 1952. The duo was spotted in The New York Times Book Review in 1952 in reference to an unexpected rendezvous: “This may well be, in magazine parlance, the neatest meet-cute of the week—the story of a ghost-writer who falls in love with a ghost.” Today the word is used often to refer to such encounters in films and television series (especially rom-coms and sitcoms). Writers of meet-cutes often develop plots by creating situations in which characters clash in personality, or by creating embarrassing situations in which two eventual romantic partners will meet, or by creating a misunderstanding between characters who will separate but become friends in the end.

Examples of meet-cute in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Toasted Marshmallow Old Fashioned Watch With: A Very Merry Mix-Up This old-fashioned is all about nostalgia with a twist—just like the movie’s accidental holiday meet-cute. —

Stephanie Gravalese, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024 Set at Christmastime, Therese and Carol’s meet-cute begins when the sophisticated shopper forgets her winter gloves at the toy counter where Therese works and Therese takes it upon herself to return them to their sultry owner. —

Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2024 But what elevates the show is the palpable, blazing chemistry between Bell and Brody, so fiery your screen might be hot to the touch during their zingy meet-cute. —

Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 5 Dec. 2024 Amanda has a meet-cute with Iris' book editor brother Graham (a dashing Jude Law) while Iris hits it off with film composer Miles (Jack Black, cast refreshingly against-type). —

EW.com, 30 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for meet-cute