situationship

What does situationship mean?

A situationship is a romantic or sexual relationship whose members have not formally defined it or officially committed to it. Instead of terms like partner, the word situationship is also used to refer to the person you are in the situationship with.

Examples of situationship

It’s been one month no contact with my situationship and I’m so proud for staying true to myself when it wasn’t always easy. It has made me reflect on my dating journey so far and hoping what I’ve learned so far can help someone else.
—@amybcarrington, Threads, 14 Aug. 2024

The emotional landscape of situationships can be highly complex. The absence of clear expectations often leaves room for ambiguity, leading to misunderstandings and heartache.
—Xadarri Nevels, The DePaulia, 14 Feb. 2024

America’s most breathlessly covered situationship — between Kansas City’s All-Pro tight end, Travis Kelce, and pop music’s biggest star, Taylor Swift — was playing out on prime-time television.
—Matt Stevens, The New York Times, 1 Oct. 2023

Where does situationship come from?

Situationship is a blend of situation and relationship. The situation part of the word situationship implies a complicated, problematic, or otherwise trying state of affairs.

The word emerged by at least the late 2000s and spread in the mid-2010s. Different people likely coined situationship independently. By the early 2020s, it had become widespread, used especially in the context of challenges with contemporary dating and courtship.

What constitutes a situationship varies, but it almost always involves varying degrees of intimacy between people who see themselves as more than friends but who have not, for whatever reason, made their involvement exclusive or given their relationship status a label.

How is situationship used?

The success of the word situationship may be because it is more effective than related alternatives at giving a name to a distinct and increasingly common experience in modern romance. Friends with benefits is similar, but emphasizes sexual intimacy and implies the people involved are mutually uninterested in taking anything to the next level. Friend zone is also similar, but refers to when one person in a friendship has strong, unrequited feelings for the other. Situationship captures the overall ambiguity of a relationship where the parties are more than friends, sort of (but not exactly) dating, and certainly are not a committed couple.

Situationship is sometimes used metaphorically and playfully in non-romantic contexts when a relationship is uncertain. For example: “While the season has already started, the superstar athlete and the owners of the team are in a situationship as they negotiate a new contract.” Increasingly, people are also using it to refer to the person they are in a situationship with, as in “We didn’t call it a date, but my situationship took me out to brunch to celebrate my birthday.”