meet-cute

Noun

meet cute (plural meet cutes)

1. (informal) A situation in a film, television series, etc., in which a potential romantic couple meet for the first time in a way that is considered adorable, amusing, or cute.
   • If this is a distortion of reality, it is a knowingly utopian gesture, and the wit of such conceits lies in placing in tension the ideal with the real and so being more than a series of fancy ‘meet cutes’: […]1989, Bruce Babington, Peter William Evans, Affairs to Remember: The Hollywood Comedy of the Sexes, Manchester; New York, N.Y.: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 11

   Synonyms:

   cute meet

2. (broadly, informal) Any such situation occurring in real life between a pair of people who are not yet acquainted, romantically or otherwise.
   • A short meet-cute dialogue ensues, detailing exactly how many hours of interviews [Steven] Levitt had agreed to (two), and exactly how much of his time [Stephen] Dubner actually ended up taking (three days).2015 May 15, Steven D[avid] Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, “Freakonomics 10 years on: Stephen J Dubner and Steven D Levitt on what they got right and wrong”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the...

See all 3 meanings of meet cute