situationship
[ sitch-oo-AY-shun-ship ]
noun · also used as set phrase "in a situationship"
A situationship is slang for a romance that is more than friends but less than partners. It stays unlabeled on purpose.
type noun seen on tiktok, twitter-x, instagram, texting, irl, music status current
Can you still say it?
situationship is current: in active, unremarkable use. Safe to say right now.
What does situationship mean?
A situationship has the parts of a relationship: time together, closeness, sometimes even meeting each other's friends. What it does not have is a label. Nobody has asked "what are we?", or someone did and the answer was a shrug. It is different from friends with benefits, which at least has agreed rules. It is also different from the talking stage, which is supposed to lead somewhere. What defines a situationship is that it stays stuck in that undefined middle spot.
The word's tone has drifted. Early on, people used it as a dry, knowing observation. Then dating apps briefly rebranded it as an empowering, low-pressure kind of romance, and Tinder named it the defining trend of 2022. By the mid-2020s the main tone is regretful. Advice columns treat it as a stuck place where one person quietly wants more, and "death to the situationship" essays are now their own genre. Calling your arrangement a situationship is now often the first step in complaining about it.
Where did situationship come from?
"Situationship" blends "situation" and "relationship". The mix is so obvious that dictionary editors believe different people invented it on their own more than once. Exactly who came up with it first is unclear. The word turned up in dating writing and on social platforms through the 2010s. TikTok spread it everywhere in the early 2020s. Tinder then named the situationship the defining trend of its 2022 year-in-review. Some specific first-use stories float around online, like an early-2010s mixtape track and relationship-blog posts from 2009-2010. None of them is verified against a primary source, so this entry does not repeat them as fact. The honest answer is that the origin is unclear, while the word's rise is very well documented.
Sources: situationship - Dictionary.com slang entry · situationship - Wiktionary (etymology and dated quotations)
How to use situationship in a sentence
eight months of good-morning texts and museum dates and I still can't call him my boyfriend. situationship purgatory
new year's resolution: no more situationships. define it or decline it
In a conversation
are you two together or not?
we're in a situationship. he says labels stress him out 🙃
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Gen Z Slang WordsQuestions about situationship
- What's the difference between a situationship and friends with benefits?
- Friends with benefits has rules both people agreed to: friends, plus a physical side, and both know what to expect. A situationship has no agreed rules at all. It looks romantic, has no label, and usually leaves at least one person wondering.
- Is a situationship a red flag?
- Not automatically. If both people are truly happy without labels, that is a valid setup. It turns painful when the two people want different things. That is the version advice columns are full of: one person is relaxed, and the other quietly hopes it becomes a real relationship.
- Who coined the word situationship?
- No one person is on record as inventing the word. It mixes "situation" and "relationship" in such an obvious way that it likely popped up on its own several times. Stories about a first use in the early 2010s go around online, but they remain unverified. The honest answer is that the exact origin is unclear.