INDEX:
1. someone that you have a romantic or sexual relationship with
2. to have a girlfriend or boyfriend
RELATED WORDS
get rid of a girlfriend or boyfriend : ↑ GET RID OF
see also
↑ FRIEND
↑ RELATIONSHIP
↑ LOVE
↑ SEX
↑ MARRY
↑ GAY
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1. someone that you have a romantic or sexual relationship with
▷ girlfriend /ˈgɜːʳlfrend/ [countable noun]
a girl or woman that you have a romantic relationship with, especially for a fairly long time :
somebody’s girlfriend
▪ I met my brother’s new girlfriend last night.
▪ Katherine is his first girlfriend since breaking up with Maggie.
have a girlfriend
▪ Does Mark have a girlfriend?
old/ex-/former girlfriend
someone who used to be your girlfriend
▪ Denver police said the suspect had earlier made threats to kill his ex-girlfriend and then himself.
serious/steady girlfriend
a girlfriend that you have a serious romantic relationship with
▪ Wendell hasn’t had a steady girlfriend in years.
▷ boyfriend /ˈbɔɪfrend/ [countable noun]
a boy or man that you have a romantic relationship with, especially for a fairly long time :
somebody’s boyfriend
▪ Josh was my first boyfriend.
▪ All she does is talk about her boyfriend.
have a boyfriend
▪ I was talking to this guy at the bar and he starting asking me whether I was married or had a boyfriend.
old/ex-/former boyfriend
someone who used to be your boyfriend
▪ Oh, my God! I’ve just seen Barry, my ex-boyfriend.
serious/steady boyfriend
a boyfriend that you have a serious romantic relationship with
▪ Sarah’s doing well and has a serious boyfriend, Michael, whom she plans to marry next year.
▷ partner /ˈpɑːʳtnəʳ/ [countable noun]
someone that you have a serious romantic and sexual relationship with, especially someone that you live with :
▪ Sweden allows gay partners to receive many of the benefits awarded to heterosexual married couples.
sexual partner
▪ The survey found that only about one of every four men had had ten or more sexual partners over their lifetime.
▷ mistress /ˈmɪstrɪs, ˈmɪstrəs/ [countable noun]
a woman who has a sexual relationship with a man who is married to someone else :
▪ She thought that her husband had a mistress but could not prove it.
▪ The former Prime Minister’s wife and mistress both attended the funeral.
▷ lover /ˈlʌvəʳ/ [countable noun]
someone who you have a sexual relationship with, without being married to them :
somebody’s lover
▪ That night she received a call from her lover.
have a lover
▪ Over her lifetime, Catherine had many lovers.
become lovers
▪ A few nights later, they became lovers.
be lovers
▪ Kilpatrick claims that she and the congressman were once lovers.
▷ old flame /ˌəʊld ˈfleɪm/ [countable noun] informal
someone who was your girlfriend or boyfriend in the past :
▪ In a box in the closet, I found love letters from one of his old flames.
▪ After 17 years of marriage, he left his wife for an old flame he ran into at a high school reunion.
2. to have a girlfriend or boyfriend
▷ go out with /ˌgəʊ ˈaʊt wɪð/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to have someone as your girlfriend or boyfriend :
▪ She’s going out with some guy she met at work.
▪ Can you believe she’s going out with him?
be going out together
▪ Jack and I have been going out together for four years.
▷ be seeing /biː ˈsiːɪŋ/ [verb phrase]
to have a romantic or sexual relationship with someone, especially a relationship that is not very serious and does not last very long :
▪ Do you know if Tanya’s seeing anyone at the moment?
▪ Her husband, whom she adored, confessed that he had been seeing other women.
▷ go steady /ˌgəʊ ˈstedi/ [verb phrase]
to have a serious romantic relationship with someone - used especially about young people :
▪ We’ve been going steady since our sophomore year.
▪ Samantha went steady with her high school boyfriend for more than a year before they had sex.