Relationship
Names for attachment dynamics the previous generation described only with silence.
Relationship
Benching
Leaving someone on the bench: minimum contact while waiting for a better starter.
Relationship
Breadcrumbing
Keeping someone hooked with crumbs of attention: a like, a cold text, never a step.
Relationship
Compersion
Joy in the other's romantic pleasure, the cultivated opposite of jealousy.
Relationship
Cushioning
Keeping spare suitors as a pillow in case the current bond fails.
Relationship
Ghosting
Vanishing without notice from a bond that was still running: silence as the answer.
Relationship
Haunting
After ghosting, the visit: stories watched, an old like, presence without speech.
Relationship
Love bombing
An early flood of praise, gifts and shared future, used to speed up attachment.
Relationship
Metamour
Your partner's partner: the other love in the network, who is not yours.
Relationship
Nesting partner
The partner with whom one shares house, bills and logistics — the nest — in a non-monogamous arrangement.
Relationship
Open relationship
A couple (or primary bond) that agrees sexual encounters outside, with its own rules.
Relationship
Orbiting
Leaving the conversation and still circling in the digital orbit: likes, views, stories, no speech.
Relationship
Polyamory
More than one love bond at once, with the people involved knowing.
Relationship
Situationship
A bond that has the routine of a couple and refuses the name of a couple.
Relationship
Slow fade
Disappearance on a ramp: colder replies, longer delays, until the thread dies without a slammed door.
Relationship
Talking stage
A phase of messages and dates with no exclusivity agreement and no name.
Relationship
Zombieing
Coming back from ghosting as if the death had not happened: a hi after the silence.