Relationship Status 101: All The Basics Covered

You know what a relationship status is on social media. When you put new information on your Facebook profile, you can choose to define your current relationship. They give you a list of statuses that you can choose from but that list is quite small. 

There are so many ways to define your relationship with someone in real life. There’s a lot to learn and you’re simply confused. You may even want to define your relationship right now but you’re too scared to ask the guy you’re seeing. 

There could be many different reasons why you’re here right now. Even your friends could be talking in a way that you don’t understand because you’re not familiar with the terms they’re using. 

Don’t worry! The good thing is that you have us to help you through this. There’s quite a lot to tell you about when it comes to this topic. 

In this article, we’ll try to help you distinguish all of the different types of relationship statuses that are out there and what they mean for the future of your union. 

The different types of relationship statuses

Besides the options that you can choose for your relationships statuses on social media, there are also modern definitions of relationships. There are too many to keep up with so it’s understandable that you need clarification but it’s okay as we’ve got you covered.

1. Almost relationship

The term ‘almost relationship‘ is very touchy for some people and it can be a heartbreaking experience for many. When this is your relationship status, it means that you have a connection with the other party. You experience everything you would as if you were in a serious relationship but you haven’t defined it as such. 

Your emotions may be very strong and at some point, you may even call it love. However, there’s always a level of uncertainty in this type of relationship. 

What defines it as an almost relationship is the fact that it never develops into something exclusive. The entire ordeal may even be over before you’re able to express your true feelings. 

As an example, have you ever been with someone and it felt like an actual relationship? So you went out on dates, saw each other often, texted throughout the entire day, and so on. You didn’t even talk to anyone except this person but that’s all there was to it.

You were never anything more than an ‘almost’ to one another. This person never made any plans for the future and you never knew when you would break up.

2. Dating

Dating is a better-known term that’s more commonly used in our society. We can describe this by saying that it’s two people who meet up socially to assess their compatibility. 

This is usually the beginning stage of seeing someone. You’re not in a relationship with this person but you’re trying to figure out whether you’d make a good couple. 

It doesn’t matter whether you met on a dating app or through mutual friends. You’re trying to see whether you’ll be able to fall in love with the other person. 

You ask a variety of questions when you meet up with them so this is the perfect moment to get to know them. You try to learn about their life, their aspirations in life, and their wants and needs. 

It goes from simple topics like their zodiac sign to things of much greater importance. Dating someone doesn’t give you the luxury of exclusivity but it gives you the benefit of getting to know them better. 

3. Friends with benefits

Imagine two good friends who figure out that they want to bring physical intimacy into their relationship. It’s not a romantic relationship, however, as they only make a pact to experience physical pleasure with each other. 

This is a very tricky union. Many people say that this isn’t a relationship status that they’d wish upon anyone, because it’s said it’s always the case that one of the partners starts developing feelings for the other. 

This type of relationship exists between people who feel some sort of a spark between them, so they want to be intimate with each other. They don’t want to complicate their friendship with emotions or a relationship. 

I know that this may sound counterproductive to many people. I mean, if you want someone’s body, while they’re also your friend, why can’t you get into a committed relationship with them? 

Well, people who are FWB usually don’t feel any sort of compatibility between them when it comes to their relationship standards. 

4. It’s complicated 

The relationship status ‘it’s complicated’ is famed for appearing on Facebook. It represents two people who have a lot of figuring out to do. They’re not broken up but they’re also not seeing each other that consistently anymore. 

You would know this is your status if you and your significant other ever get to a crossroads in your relationship and you don’t know how to move on from it. You want to believe that everything is going to be okay but you know that it’ll be a long and exhausting process to get to that point.

So, you define your relationship as complicated. It feels like it’s not over between you yet but you also know that things can only be good again if you put a lot of work and effort into it.

5. We’re on a break

“We’re on a break,” has become a very common term nowadays, thanks to Friends. Have you ever met someone who told you that they weren’t really separated from their partner but they were also not together?

When you take a break from your relationship, it’s because you’re not sure whether you should end things completely. You can’t imagine life without that person but you also know that there are too many issues to just continue. 

People often take a break in their relationship to have some time to cool off. They’re figuring out what it means to be with that person. It’s also a good thing for someone who doesn’t know whether they’ve met their soulmate.

When you’re on a break, you keep up just enough communication with your partner to know what’s going on. 

Depending on the agreement that you make, some people tend to find someone to spend their time with in the time being. Other people think that that’s disrespectful, though, as a break doesn’t equal a break-up. 

6. Actively single

If your relationship status is single then you know what that means. It’s when you’re not in a relationship with anyone. 

However, being actively single is usually a conscious decision. Many people believe that someone with this relationship status is actually in desperate need of a partner but it’s untrue. 

Some people choose to completely distance themselves from the dating scene during this time. They only want to focus on themselves and try to become the best version of themselves. 

Someone else could be open to meeting new people but not actively pursuing a partner. Those are two different approaches to this status but both of them are valid. 

Most people who are actively single give themselves a period in which they’ll keep themselves away from people of the opposite gender. They don’t want to be tempted, so they distance themselves because they need to work on themselves first.

7. Situationship

A situationship is very similar to an almost relationship or a friends with benefits type of arrangement. The main difference is that it’s a romantic relationship that no one wants to define.

Some people often don’t want to define it out of fear of losing the other person, so they don’t even get to the point of talking about it. Even if they do, the other person may not want to.

The relationship itself is made up of physical pleasure and intimacy. It’s hovering between a romantic relationship and a friendship and it’s usually one-sided love that rarely ends well. 

This type of relationship comes out of convenience. You’re right there when the other person is looking for something casual but you end up catching feelings and that’s when this situationship ordeal becomes quite a tricky situation.

You don’t want to seem too emotional for catching feelings but you also can’t hide it for much longer. So, once the situationship starts to become too much for you, you’ll want something more but the other person will walk out of your life.  

8. Open relationship

We can define an open relationship as one that generally indicates that two people have agreed that they won’t stay monogamous when it comes to sleeping with others. Nowadays, men are mostly the ones who initiate this type of agreement.

An open relationship means that a person has an emotional bond with one person while they’re spending some nights with different people. They’ll find other partners for physical pleasure because that’s okay for both of them. 

A relationship like this needs a strict set of rules in order to be successful. Both partners have to feel comfortable in this arrangement and those boundaries have to be respected. 

You can sometimes expect one partner to exploit this arrangement, while the other would get in trouble for doing the same, so the roles need to be equal in this situation. 

An open relationship doesn’t mean that you’ll go out to pursue people to bring into your union for long periods of time but we’ll talk about things like that a little bit later. 

9. Committed relationship

A committed relationship is one where both partners are in it for the long run. A committed long-term relationship is one that’s lasted for years so far and is still going strong. 

This is the type of relationship where two people have made the conscious decision to stay together and they’re working very hard on making that happen. It’s a very common relationship status, especially when two people have found common ground and they focus on making their relationship grow. 

When you’re in a relationship like this, you wouldn’t do anything that could compromise it. You’re faithful, you respect your partner, and there’s a lot of love and trust between you. People in these relationships plan a future together, in whichever way they see fit.

10. Long-distance relationship

With the rise of technology, there’s been a very large number of long-distance relationships in the past few years. People find each other, particularly online, but they’re not able to be together physically. 

This is a romantic relationship in which two people can’t be together geographically so they lack face-to-face contact. Most of their communication is done online, over text messages and FaceTime.

They can’t live in the same town because of their commitments or their life is simply spread over two parts of a country or even a continent – as sometimes, even two people from two different parts of the world find each other and realize that they’re perfect together. 

This is a very stressful thing to go through because you need to build a lot of trust. If you’re exclusive, then you need to have enough faith in your partner to know that he won’t cheat on you. 

The long-distance relationship status is not for everyone, especially if your love language is something like physical touch. But those people who work through this issue and end up living together are the type of couple all of us should admire. 

11. Engaged

When you share relationship values with your partner, you want to build a life together, and you have a plan, then it may be the right time to get engaged. 

Once you’re engaged, you’re formally agreeing to marry your partner. You pledge to get married one day in the future, whether that’s sooner or later.

Many people start planning their future right after they get engaged, while others just see this as a formality.

However, it’s always seen as one of the most sacred forms of commitment to your partner, second only to the marriage ceremony itself. 

12. Married

Once you decide that your healthy relationship needs to change its status, that’s when you stand at the altar and speak your vows. 

Most people want to spend the rest of their life with their romantic partner and marriage gives them the privilege of spending time together without anyone pressuring them into anything. 

There are many good things about marriage but it mostly exists as a form of holy commitment to your partner. It’s a legal procedure as well as a holy one, which makes you both aware of your responsibilities toward one another. 

As a society, we define marriage in social terms as well as legal ones, so there are things that you need to consider when you get married. This includes spousal health benefits from employers, your income, and property tax perks.

You also have the right to make medical decisions for your spouse, the right to inheritance of property, and spousal privilege in court, so as you can see, there’s a lot more to marriage than a piece of paper.

13. Separated

Once you marry someone, your relationship status changes. Afterward, when you want to break up with your spouse, you can’t do that without a long legal process.

When two people are waiting for their lawyers to make sure that the divorce papers are ready, they live separately. This isn’t always the case but for the most part, it’s relevant. 

Otherwise, many people go through a separation when they want to clear their head and see whether they can fix anything instead of divorcing. It’s can be quite similar to taking a break from your relationship. 

Separation doesn’t always lead to divorce but it’s one of the most common situations to find yourself in right before it. This in itself won’t be the only reason why you end your marriage but it can create a strain on your relationship.

It can create many financial and communication problems and in general, it’s a very bad way to find more space in your marriage. 

14. Divorced

A divorce is when two people who are married or in a civil union decide to go their separate ways. They want to terminate the legal contract that binds them so they can live their separate lives. 

Once you divorce, your relationship status goes back to single and you gain the rights you had before you married. 

Nowadays, a higher number of people decide to divorce than ever before and this is because it has become widely accepted. Before this, divorce wasn’t as prevalent because people who went through it were embarrassed or ridiculed by society. 

There are many reasons why two people decide to terminate their marriage and more often than not it’s because of infidelity. One person doesn’t want to be in the marriage anymore because the other wasn’t faithful. However, many married couples also figure out that they’d be much happier if they were single. 

In this legal process, it’s difficult for both partners when children are involved. Child custody is nearly always a court battle and joint custody still ties them together, so in this case, they can’t be completely separated.

15. Domestic partnership

A domestic partnership is the type of relationship status between two people who live together and share a common domestic life. They cohabit in the same space and they share their expenses. 

People who live in this type of partnership are in a committed relationship and see that life together is necessary for them to be happy, so they move in together. They share their lives together but they’re not legally bound to one another. 

You’ve probably heard about many people who are in domestic partnerships without even knowing that this is the right term for it. They got to that point in their relationship because they felt comfortable enough to take this step. 

16. Sugar relationship

There’s no way you haven’t heard of a sugar relationship if you have a sugar mommy or daddy. If two people have this relationship status, it means that one of them pays for the other’s life and there are terms and conditions that both partners need to respect in order to make everything work. 

This type of agreement is based on trust, honesty, and mutual respect. People also call it sugaring, which is a transactional dating practice in which both parties benefit in one way or another. Usually, the one who provides the money asks for physical intimacy or their partner’s company.

This is a practice that’s looked down upon because of the lack of emotions involved in this type of relationship and its transactional nature. Of course, feelings aren’t always excluded but if they fall in love during this time, their relationship status is just upgraded to a normal relationship. 

17. Codependent relationship

A codependent relationship isn’t a good relationship. It’s not the type of relationship that people write romantic relationship quotes about. 

In this type of relationship, one partner depends on the other in so many ways. It doesn’t just have to be financial and can include anything from physical dependency to mental or emotional. 

This kind of relationship can be described as extremely toxic. It’s not something that many people are proud of, as it’s very draining for the person in the relationship being depended on. 

There are instances when one partner needs the other, while the other needs to be needed. Sometimes, though, it can be an agreement that benefits both partners.

18. Casually seeing each other

Casually seeing someone isn’t the same thing as dating them or being in any other type of relationship status. However, it’s not that uncommon. When you’re casually seeing someone, what you’re experiencing is a relationship that exists between two people who don’t want any commitment. 

In this type of union, you can give each other permission to see other people. It’s all about communication, as well as honesty and trust.

You don’t want to be exclusive with the other person but you also think that they’re interesting enough to see each other every once in a while. You don’t make plans to get to know each other but you have fun together. 

When you’re casually dating someone, it can often mean that you’re able to maintain that relationship for a very long time because you only meet up every few months. 

19. Monogamous relationship

Monogamous relationships are probably the most common ones. Monogamy is a type of relationship where you only have one partner at a time without the need for multiple partners. 

In this relationship, you don’t need emotional validation from anyone but your partner. Also, you only share intimate moments with them, which is why infidelity is seen as the worst thing you can do. 

You agree with your partner that you’re going to be monogamous because that’s what you both feel comfortable with. Once you want to be with someone else or you pursue that urge, your relationship status will change. 

20. Nonmonogamous relationship

Nonmonogamy is an umbrella term that’s used for everything that doesn’t fall under the term monogamy. Most commonly, we define the nonmonogamous relationship status as one in which more than two people participate.

The people in this relationship are emotionally, mentally, and physically connected and all thought that it would be best to create a union together.

Their philosophy comes from the belief that humans aren’t supposed to be monogamous. They believe that one person can have many soulmates throughout their life. 

Nonmonogamy isn’t synonymous with infidelity, as this is when one partner wants a monogamous relationship, while the other goes behind their back to be with others. In a nonmonogamous relationship, all parties involved know the rules and they willingly agree to this love life.

They feel much more comfortable in this type of union and they don’t feel any pressure to be perfect. Other people often have a misconception about this type of relationship but they should just be aware that different people have different needs. 

21. Platonic relationship

Platonic love is not romantic and it doesn’t generate a need for physical intimacy. Familial love doesn’t fall under this term either. Most often, it’s the phrase we use to define the feelings we have for our friends. 

This relationship status doesn’t ask for fidelity, because infidelity isn’t a possibility here. However, a platonic relationship, just like any other, should be built on trust and communication. 

22. Rebound

Rebound relationships are everyone’s biggest fear. It’s a bad time for both parties involved, even when they’re probably not even aware that they’re stuck in one. 

Once you realize that you’re in a relationship like this, you should probably pack your things and run. But what even is a rebound relationship?

It’s when one person starts a new relationship without being over their ex. They feel like they’d be happier if they started something new and they need validation, which is why they go out and look for their own happiness – but at the expense of someone else.

Someone who’s recently been through a break-up isn’t emotionally ready to start a new relationship. No one can just jump into one right after they get their heart broken. They need to spend a lot of time thinking things through and preparing for such a big step. 

It’s a very toxic relationship in which the other person is the obvious victim. You use them for your gain, while they’re falling in love even more. 

23. Widowed  

This term is used for someone who was married but lost their partner when they passed away. This is probably the most tragic of all relationship statuses, when you lose the person you love the most and when you become a widower. 

Life is very cruel and it doesn’t pick and choose. There are so many people out there who have gone through this experience and who add this status to their social media profiles. 

24. Courtship

This term is quite outdated but you may hear it in some places, as some cultures still practice it. Courtship is a relationship status that describes a period in time before two people get engaged, in which they have time to get to know each other and (preferably) fall in love. 

During this time, they’re both trying to develop feelings for each other and seeing whether they’re compatible together. They develop a romantic relationship before one puts a ring on the finger of the other. 

25. De facto relationship

A de facto relationship, also known as a common-law marriage, is quite a modern term for a relationship. It’s the type of relationship in which two people are unmarried but in the eyes of the law, they are, so they are entitled to marital benefits. 

Interestingly enough, there are many different definitions of this relationship status and different countries define it by law in different ways. In some countries, the couple are only together in this kind of relationship in order to get certain benefits. Others may create a romantic relationship out of it or just engage in physical intimacy.

Either way, sometimes, the relationship was initially created for the sake of both parties involved. They both enjoy the benefits without the actual commitment of marriage. Most of the time, though, this relationship is similar to a domestic one.