significant other
4 synonyms for significant other, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The person someone is in a long-term romantic relationship with, named this way when the speaker does not want to specify whether they are a husband, wife, partner, girlfriend or boyfriend.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
How to use significant other
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Deliberately neutral about marriage and gender, which makes it useful on invitations, forms and at work. Sometimes abbreviated SO online.
Etymology
Originally a term from social psychology for any person whose opinion strongly shapes one's sense of self, later narrowed in everyday use to a romantic partner.
Full origin of significant other →