Situationship
what it means
More than friends, less than a relationship, and deliberately undefined. Situationships usually end without a breakup because there was nothing formal to break.
A romantic or sexual relationship without a label, definition or agreed commitment.
the origin story
Appeared in relationship writing in the mid-2010s and became widespread vocabulary through TikTok around 2020-2022.
Dating app research repeatedly identified it as one of the defining relationship shapes of the era, and several apps added "situationship" as a selectable intention. Its ambiguity is both the appeal and the complaint — one person's low-pressure arrangement is another's indefinite limbo.
in the wild
Are you two together?
It's a situationship. Don't ask me to explain it.
Did you break up?
You can't break up from a situationship. It just stopped.
how to use it
- Describing an undefined romantic arrangement
- Dating conversations with friends
- Discussing modern relationship structures
- About someone else's relationship they've defined differently
- Professionally
- As a way to avoid a needed conversation about expectations
related terms
receipts
Community feedback
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