friendzone

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A form of friend zone — The situation in which one is viewed by a potential partner as a platonic friend, which complicates the initiation of a romantic relationship.

Scrabble 23
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Meanings

nounfriendzone (plural friendzones)

plural friendzones

  1. alternativeAlternative form of friend zone.

    Overall, relationships became more strained after attempts to convert to romance, regardless of whether they gave it a shot or went straight to the friendzone.

    2022 August 19, Ekua Hagan, “How People Deal With Being in "The Friend Zone"”, in Psychology Today
verbfriendzone (third-person singular simple present friendzones, present participle friendzoning, simple past and past participle friendzoned)

present singular third person friendzones · participle present friendzoning · participle past friendzoned · past friendzoned

  1. alternativeAlternative form of friend zone.

    The bloke tries to get her attention back, but I've friendzoned him. Poor guy. I do feel bad for the ones who have to try so hard.

    2015, Wendy Higgins, chapter 1, in Sweet Temptation, HarperCollins, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    While being friendzoned is not a problem, what can be a problem is if it's not clear to both people that ONLY friendship and nothing more is on offer.

    2019, Ira Trivedi, Sachin Bhatia, chapter 1, in The Desi Guide to Dating, Harper Collins, →ISBN

    Whether friendzoning outcomes would be different depending on if the initiation took place in the context of an established "strong" friendship or a newer, more tenuous one is a question for further research.

    2022 August 19, Ekua Hagan, “How People Deal With Being in "The Friend Zone"”, in Psychology Today
Cite this entry
APA

friendzone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friendzone

MLA

“friendzone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friendzone. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “friendzone,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friendzone.

Source: friendzone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.