micro-cheat

micro-cheat verb: to show signs of attraction or focus on someone other than one's romantic partner.

Verb

micro-cheat (third-person singular simple present micro-cheats, present participle micro-cheating, simple past and past participle micro-cheated)

To show signs of attraction or focus on someone other than one's romantic partner.
- There are plenty of different ways to micro-cheat on your partner. One of the prime examples is by going through someone's social media profile and liking old pictures of them – known as a "deep like".2018 March 23, Lauren Windle, “What is ‘micro-cheating’? How liking old Facebook photos and suggestive emojis could threaten to ruin relationships”, in The Sun
- But while physical cheating is publicly condemned and clear-cut enough to identify, there's a "tinier" form of cheating that can sting just as much: micro-cheating.2019 February 11, Jessica Goodman, Julia Pugachevsky, Mel Evans, “Here's How to Know If You're Micro-Cheating”, in Cosmopolitan

micro-cheat (plural micro-cheats)

A person who micro-cheats.
- Here, LYNSEY CLARKE presents a quiz which will reveal if you are a micro-cheat, a mini-flirt or mega-loyal.2018 January 16, Lynsey Clarke, “Are you a micro-cheat, a mini-flirt or mega-loyal?”, in The Sun
Synonyms:

micro-cheater
An instance of micro-cheating.
- New York–based relationship and etiquette expert of Relationship Advice Forum, April Masini, tells Bustle. "Sleeping with someone else is not a micro-cheat. That’s a flat-out betrayal."2018 April 27, Amanda Chatel, “How To Talk To A Partner About Micro-Cheating”, in Bustle
- But keep in mind, polyamory and open relationships need to be things both partners want, and require just as much if not more work than a monogamous partnership. In other words, it should never be used to turn a micro-cheat into a macro without getting into trouble.2019 February 11, Jessica Goodman, Julia Pugachevsky, Mel Evans, “Here's How to Know If You're Micro-Cheating”, in Cosmopolitan

Verb
third-person singular present	micro-cheats
present participle	micro-cheating
past participle	micro-cheated
past	micro-cheated
Noun
plural	micro-cheats

From micro- + cheat.

What does micro-cheat mean?: Micro-cheat means to show signs of attraction or focus on someone other than one's romantic partner.
What part of speech is micro-cheat?: Micro-cheat can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of micro-cheat?: The past tense of micro-cheat is micro-cheated.

Adapted from Wiktionary: micro-cheat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “micro-cheat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/micro-cheat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.