Shrekking
Shrekking noun: the practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner.
Noun
Shrekking (uncountable)
- The practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner.
- "Shrekking" may be a new addition to the modern dating lexicon, but it's long-been a universal experience.2025 August 21, Charles Trepany, “The new dating term 'Shrekking' sounds innocent. It's not what you think”, in USA Today
- “Although ‘Shrekking’ may sound like a pragmatic response to dating fatigue, in reality it reveals some concerning patterns in how singles approach love and relationships,” says Claire Rénier, relationship expert at dating app happn.2025 September 12, Olivia Petter, “Shrekking – or deliberately dating 'ugly' men – is a new low for modern love”, in The Independent
Origin of Shrekking
From Shrek + -ing, referencing the animated fantasy film Shrek (2001), in which a princess falls in love with the titular ogre.
Questions about Shrekking
- What does Shrekking mean?
- Shrekking means the practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner.
- What part of speech is Shrekking?
- Shrekking is a noun.
Words near Shrekking in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Shrekking (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:
Cite this entry: “Shrekking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shrekking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.