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significant other. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
significant other, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
significant other in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
significant other you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Noun
significant other (plural significant others)
- One's exclusive romantic partner.
- Synonyms: better half, other half, partner, (abbreviation) s/o, (initialism) SO
- Hyponyms: boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, husband, wife
2000 March 9, “Couples Working Different Shifts, Union Poll Finds”, in Deseret News, retrieved 27 October 2013, page D7:Almost half of working women who are married or live with a partner are seeing their significant other only in passing because the two work different shifts, an AFL-CIO poll found.
2006 February 12, Michelle Singletary, “Love and money go hand in hand”, in Boston Globe, retrieved 27 October 2013:More than half (57 percent) of consumers think it would be wonderfully romantic if their significant other booked tickets for a surprise international trip.
- A person with whom one has an important bond of some kind.
1983 June 21, William E. Geist, “High Schools Struggle with Coach Shortage”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 October 2013:Dr. Nogueira said it was always preferable to have coaches drawn from a school's staff because a coach "is a significant other" to a student.
1985 December 14, Katherine Bishop, “Ward 5B: A Model of Care for AIDS”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 October 2013:As in the rest of the hospital, a family member or "significant other" such as a lover or close friend, is allowed to spend the night in a patient's room on a cot.
1989 December 26, Graham Vink, “Not At Home On The Range”, in Spokesman-Review, retrieved 27 October 2013, page F1:If your spouse, children or other significant others are still whining about all those holiday leftovers you made them eat, maybe it's time to spruce up your culinary skills.
Translations
romantic partner, regardless of marital status
- Arabic: النصف الآخر
- Catalan: parella (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 對象/对象 (zh) (duìxiàng), 愛人/爱人 (zh) (àiren), 那位 (zh) (nàwèi), 配偶 (zh) (pèi'ǒu), 伴侶/伴侣 (zh) (bànlǚ)
- Danish: kæreste (da) c
- Dutch: wederhelft (nl) m or f
- Finnish: kumppani (fi), elämäntoveri, rakas (fi)
- French: moitié (fr) f (literary), partenaire (fr) m or f, compagnon (fr) m, compagne (fr) f
- Galician: parella (gl) f
- German: Lebensgefährte (de) m, Lebensgefährtin (de) f
- Japanese: 配偶者 (ja) (はいぐうしゃ, haigūsha), 恋人 (ja) (こいびと, koibito), 伴侶 (ja) (hanryo)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: kjæreste (no) m or f
- Polish: sympatia (pl) f
- Portuguese: cara-metade f
- Russian: спу́тник жи́зни (ru) m (spútnik žízni), спу́тница жи́зни f (spútnica žízni), втора́я полови́на (ru) f (vtorája polovína), возлю́бленный (ru) m (vozljúblennyj), возлю́бленная (ru) f (vozljúblennaja)
- Spanish: novio (es) m, novia (es) f, media naranja f
- Swedish: not used in Swedish (See boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife or Swedish terms sambo and särbo instead.)
- Turkish: eş (tr), partner (tr)
- Ukrainian: дру́га полови́нка f (drúha polovýnka)
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