Modern Dating Glossary

58 terms, slang, and concepts that define how people date now — defined in plain English with no jargon.

Behaviors

Abruptly cutting off all communication with someone you've been dating, with no explanation.

Replying with low-effort acknowledgments to slowly fade out, instead of fully disappearing.

Sending sporadic flirty messages to keep someone interested without actually pursuing them.

Watching your stories and engaging with your social media after going silent on direct conversation.

When someone who ghosted you reappears months later as if nothing happened.

Overwhelming someone with affection, attention, and gifts very early in a relationship.

Talking about a shared future to manufacture commitment, without intent to follow through.

Keeping someone as a backup option without committing or fully cutting them off.

Keeping flirty side-conversations going while in a relationship as a safety net.

Hiding your partner from your friends, family, or social media.

Backhanded compliments or subtle put-downs designed to lower someone's confidence and create attraction.

Psychologically manipulating someone into doubting their own perception of reality.

Relationship Types

An undefined romantic arrangement that's more than friends but less than committed.

The early phase of dating where you're texting and seeing each other but not officially dating.

Agreeing to date only each other, but not yet 'in a relationship.'

Ethical Non-Monogamy — relationship structures where multiple partners are openly accepted.

Romantic relationships with multiple partners, with everyone's consent.

Being romantically and sexually involved with one partner at a time.

App Features

On Tinder, indicating interest in a profile by swiping right.

A premium signal on Tinder indicating strong interest in a profile.

Paying to push your profile to the top of the local stack temporarily.

A mutual yes on a dating app — both users have indicated interest.

A short text question on Hinge that you answer to add personality to your profile.

On Hinge, the granular signal where you like a specific photo or prompt rather than the whole profile.

Hinge's premium signal — a stronger version of a like.

An internal desirability score that dating apps use to rank profiles for matchmaking.

Communication

Define The Relationship — the conversation about whether you're exclusive.

Sharing heavy personal trauma very early in a relationship, before it's earned.

An informal early date or conversation aimed at gauging chemistry rather than facts.

'What you doing' — a low-effort opener message.

Someone whose text replies are short, low-energy, and conversation-killing.

The framework that people give and receive love primarily through one of five modes.

Identity & Orientation

Only experiencing sexual attraction after an emotional bond has formed.

Experiencing little or no sexual attraction to others.

Experiencing little or no romantic attraction to others.

Primarily attracted to intelligence rather than physical traits.

Phenomena & Trends

When a dating app silently buries your profile so you get few or no matches.

Someone who uses fake or heavily misleading photos and identity online.

Catfishing-Light

Photos so heavily edited that you don't look like yourself in person, without full identity deception.

The first in-person meeting between two people who connected on a dating app.

The first date after a successful first date — usually the real test of compatibility.

A sudden, irrational feeling of disgust toward someone you were attracted to.

A warning sign about someone's behavior or character early in dating.

A positive signal about someone's character or relationship potential.

A small, quirky habit that's not a problem but is distinctive enough to notice.

Slang for delusional — used in dating to describe wishful thinking about a connection.

Romantic charisma — short for charisma, used to describe game or smoothness.

Posting subtle hints of a new partner on social media before officially announcing.

An explicit, identifying social media announcement of a new relationship.

Attachment Style

A psychological framework categorizing how people relate in close relationships.

Anxious Attachment

An attachment style marked by fear of abandonment and need for closeness.

Avoidant Attachment

An attachment style marked by discomfort with closeness and emotional independence.

Secure Attachment

The attachment style marked by comfort with both intimacy and independence.

Right-Swipe Fatigue

The decline in match enjoyment that comes from swiping through too many profiles.

Dating App Fatigue

The general exhaustion with dating apps that drives users to delete and re-download.

Delete-Redownload Cycle

The pattern of deleting a dating app in frustration and re-downloading it weeks later.

A photo deliberately posed to attract sexual attention.

A profile bio that's blank, generic, or three emojis — signaling minimal investment.