About

A Situationship, also known as a Non-Relationship, is a slang term used to describe dating someone without making it "official" or calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. While the term has appeared sporadically across internet blogs and messageboards since 2009, the word entered mainstream slang after the year 2014, continuing through the early 2020s.

Origin

The earliest mention of the term "situationship" appeared on an internet blog post on Baggage Reclaim from July 19th, 2010.^[1] The post described the blogger's messy and unofficial relationship with a past partner, with the word "situationship" being used alongside classic markers that denote such a non-relationship (seen below).

Later mentions of the term include a December 2012 listicle about how to exchange gifts in a situationship,^[2] various posts between 2013 and 2014 from the Facebook agony aunt page Zane.^[3] On April 5th, 2014, the word was added to Urban Dictionary,^[4] where it gathered over 4,000 likes in eight years (seen below).

Spread

The term began to gain traction in the latter half of the 2010s, with Twitter^[5] user @malissaali posting a tweet using the word in 2017, gathering over 2,000 likes in five years (seen below, left) and Twitter^[6] user @QUEbaGoodingJr posting a tweet using the word on April 6th, 2018, gathering over 7,000 likes in over four years (seen below, right).

On September 4th, 2018, Twitter^[7] user @LondonAffair posted a tweet using the word as well, gathering over 60,000 likes in the first known viral instance of the word being used (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References