In This Article
Situationship. A romantic or sexual relationship that has the practical features of a partnership (regular contact, intimacy, shared time) without an explicitly defined commitment or label. Distinct from casual dating in its duration and intensity, and from a defined relationship in its lack of declared status.
Where the term comes from
The term entered mainstream American English in the early 2010s, with Carina Hsieh and others in women's media using it consistently by 2014. It is the most-cited piece of vocabulary that emerged from millennial-era dating-app discourse and was added to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary in 2023.
How it shows up in real life
Two people have been spending two to four nights a week together for nine months. They have met some of each other's friends. They have not met each other's families. They do not call each other partners. When asked directly about the status, one or both retreats from the question. There has been no breakup because there is nothing formally to break up. That is a situationship, and the structure can persist for years.
Common misuses
Situationship is sometimes used to soften the description of a relationship in which one partner wants commitment and the other refuses. If the lack of definition is one-sided and one person is in distress about it, the term obscures more than it clarifies. The honest description there is a relationship with mismatched commitment, not a situationship.
