Meanings
- informalneologismnot comparableAbstaining from dating and relationships with men.
The boysober movement, for instance, is gaining traction among women who are done contorting themselves into palatable versions of femininity just to be tolerated by mediocre men.
2025 March 9, Daniel Dashawn, “Chaos Celibacy: The Great Romantic Boycott”, in Daniel Dashawn Couples Therapy, archived from the original on 11 Mar 20253 more examples
Ms. Woodard said that, growing up in the South, she was raised to please others. Now, she said, she sometimes struggles with knowing what she wants. At its core, her "boysober" year is about learning how to say no.
2024 February 3, Marisa Charpentier, “'Boysober' Is Celibacy With a Rebrand”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2024Founder and a relationship expert at The Matchmaker UK, Lara Besbrode believes women choosing the "boysober" lifestyle is a decision "rooted in a desire for self-sufficiency and personal empowerment."
2024 March 9, Sinead Butler, “Relationship experts weigh in on 'difficult' new 'Boysober' dating trend”, in Indy100, archived from the original on 17 May 2024There's definitely a lot I don't understand about the current zeitgeist, from the rise of the soul tie to the concept of being "boysober," but as I've crept further and further into my third decade of life, I've realized how ridiculous it was to think that all things fun and messy and risible would disappear from my life once I learned what an FSA account was, and paid off (some of) my credit card debt.
2024 June 13, Emma Specter, “Are You Ready for Saturn Return Girl Summer?”, in Vogue, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jun 2024
Origin
Compound of boy + sober. Popularized by comedian Hope Woodard in 2024.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
boysober. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boysober
“boysober.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boysober. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boysober,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boysober.
Source: boysober on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.