Meanings
online dating1
alternative abbreviation OLD
- uncountableDating over the Internet, typically using a website or app to find potential connections.
In the digital age, everything must at some point be reduced to this basic construct of choice: One or zero. Yes or no. On or off. Subscribers to online dating sites are forced to come up with a list of their desires. Red hair? Yes or no. Over 30 O.K.? Please check a box.
2010 February 11, Scott James, “In the Calculations of Online Dating, Love Can Be Cruel”, in The New York Times, →ISSNSynonyms: Internet dating, cyberdating, hyperdating, e-dating
online dating2
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of online date
Synonyms & antonyms
nounDating over the Internet, typically using a website or app to find potential connections.
Origin
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 在線交友 /在线交友
- 在線交友 /在线交友 (zàixiàn jiāoyǒu)dating over the Internet
Finnish nettideittailu, nettitreffailu
- nettideittailudating over the Internet
- nettitreffailudating over the Internet
- nettiseuranhakudating over the Internet
German Onlinedating
- Onlinedatingdating over the Internet
Cite this entry
online dating. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/online%20dating
“online dating.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/online%20dating. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “online dating,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/online%20dating.
Source: online dating on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.