In This Article
Ghosting. The deliberate, unannounced ending of a relationship (romantic, platonic, or professional) through total cessation of contact and refusal to respond to attempts at communication. The defining feature is the absence of any closing communication; the person is suddenly and silently gone.
Where the term comes from
Ghosting as a romantic-relational term was stabilized in mainstream usage by the mid-2010s, with The New York Times running the most-cited piece in 2015. The behavior predates the term by decades, but the labeling was new and was driven by dating-app behavioral patterns that gave the act a recognizable shape: matched, exchanged messages, met, and then disappeared.
How it shows up in real life
Two people have been on five dates over six weeks. Both have indicated, in words, that they are interested in continuing. They have plans for next Saturday. The next message is not delivered, not returned, not acknowledged, not followed up on. There is no message saying anything has changed. There is no message at all. Two months later there is still no message. The person is ghosting.
Common misuses
Not every fade is a ghosting. A pattern of texts becoming less frequent and eventually stopping, after both parties have effectively let the relationship cool, is a fade. Ghosting is more specific: contact is in progress, plans are made or invited, and the disappearance is one-sided and abrupt. Using ghosting to describe any drift toward silence drains the term of meaning.
