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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Imagine Pride and Prejudice meets Little Women and it's inspired by my meet-cute with my girlfriend, Becca, of course. —

Ana Osorno, Them, 14 Feb. 2025 In honor of Valentine’s Day, Elsbeth is staging a strange but delightful meet-cute between its titular character and guest star Ioan Gruffudd in this Thursday’s episode (CBS, 10/9c). —

Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 11 Feb. 2025 Apart Celebrate Christmas with a 'Deeper Level of Life and Love' (Exclusive) Their entire healthcare team at North Shore University Hospital is thrilled — and tickled that the meet-cute happened on Valentine's Day. —

Wendy Grossman Kantor, People.com, 11 Feb. 2025 This Netflix Original gleefully ticks off the rom-com bingo card: an elevator meet-cute, a late-night pizza bonding session, and yes, even a dramatic run to the airport. —

Janey Tracey, EW.com, 7 Feb. 2025 See all Example Sentences for meet-cute