open relationship
open relationship noun: a romantic or sexual relationship in which all parties mutually consent to the possibility of engaging in additional concurrent romantic or sexual relationships with others.
Noun
open relationship (plural open relationships)
- A romantic or sexual relationship in which all parties mutually consent to the possibility of engaging in additional concurrent romantic or sexual relationships with others.
- "But practically and logistically, what does an open relationship actually involve? Apparently, it's about 'being able to love yourself and others, plus healing some of the guilt and shame we have around our sexuality," says Susannah.2003 January 26, Rose Rouse, “Multiple choices”, in The Observer
- "Ryan wants to have sex and says he and his boyfriend have an open relationship, but I feel too guilty to go all the way."2004 March, Out, page 132
Forms of open relationship
| plural | open relationships |
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Questions about open relationship
- What does open relationship mean?
- Open relationship means a romantic or sexual relationship in which all parties mutually consent to the possibility of engaging in additional concurrent romantic or sexual relationships with others.
- What part of speech is open relationship?
- Open relationship is a noun.
- What is the plural of open relationship?
- The plural of open relationship is open relationships.
Words near open relationship in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: open relationship (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-open relationship.ogg.
Cite this entry: “open relationship.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/open_relationship. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.