situationship
n. A relationship between two people that is more than a friendship, but less than a romance.
Etymology
Examples
2017
For all the boyfriends that were never really my boyfriend, past hookups and their mealy scars of things left unsaid, there was now a clever umbrella term: situationships. And getting involved in a situationship might be the worst thing you can do to yourself.
—Carina Hsieh, “Is the 'Situationship' Ruining Modern Romance?,” Cosmopolitan, May 01, 2017
2016
I have a disconcerting habit of keeping some people around longer than I should. So it’s sadly no surprise that I stayed in a “situationship” that looked like a committed relationship, but wasn’t, for way too long.
2015
What’s a situationship? It feels like a relationship, and to everyone else it may seem like one, but it’s not.
—Tia Long, “Relationships vs. Situationships: How Can You Tell?,” The Source, April 15, 2015
2006 (earliest)
situationship
any problematic relationship characterized by one or more unresolved, interpersonal conflicts. usually confused with dating.
—no1slogo, “situationship,” Urban Dictionary, January 23, 2006