A situationship is a relationship with no label: two people date and spend time together but don't call themselves a couple. It's something in between, neither just friends nor really a couple. The word blends situation and relationship; people use it on social media and when chatting with friends, usually with irony, to describe a connection where it's unclear where things are heading.
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be in a situationship (with + person); it's (just) a situationship; my situationship
- We've been seeing each other for three months, but it's still just a situationship.
- I'm tired of being in a situationship, I want him to call me his girlfriend.
- So is he your boyfriend now, or is it still a situationship?
What changed
First versionI don't want to stay in situationship with him forever.
RevisionI don't want to stay in a situationship with him forever.
Situationship is an ordinary countable noun, like relationship, so in the singular it needs an article: in a situationship. The a is easy to drop before an unfamiliar slang word, but the grammar is the same as in a relationship.
The key thing about a situationship is its unclear status. Once people agree they're a couple, it's a relationship: We've been in a relationship since May. For talking to people you don't know well and for IELTS Speaking, there's a neutral option: we're seeing each other, but it's nothing serious. Slang doesn't belong in an essay; a casual relationship works there.
Your turn
They go on dates and hold hands, but neither of them calls it a relationship, so it's a classic ___.
Show the answer
situationship — Going on dates and holding hands is more than friendship, so friendship doesn't fit. But nobody calls it a relationship either, which leaves situationship: a connection without a status.
Describe a situation (yours, a friend's or from a TV series) where two people are dating but don't call themselves a couple. Say how long it has been going on and what one of them wants.
My best friend has been in a situationship for six months, and she just wants him to call her his girlfriend.
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