arm candy

American  

Slang.

1. a very attractive person who accompanies someone on a date, as at a public event, but is not romantically involved with that person.

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Etymology

Origin of arm candy

1990–95

Example Sentences

Just two years after “Cruise” debuted, duo Maddie & Tae had heard enough about arm candy and daisy dukes to satirize the subgenre’s views on women with 2015’s “Girl in a Country Song.”

From Salon • May 16, 2025

Kristoff and an oily prince called Hans yap about, gesturing at being the hero, before winding up as arm candy for Anna, an irrelevance to Elsa.

From The Guardian • Nov. 9, 2019

Lyanna Mormont, my new personal hero, eviscerates Jon in the Great Hall for leaving Winterfell as King in the North and returning as Daenerys’ arm candy.

From The Verge • Apr. 15, 2019

But if many of Britney’s past flames suggested lapses in her self-esteem, Asghari—chiseled, sensibly bearded, impossibly handsome—is the arm candy of a woman more self-possessed than ever.

From Slate • Sep. 24, 2018

The studio, known primarily for gangster melodramas led by male stars such as Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, often typecast her as arm candy or in ingenue roles, often playing opposite fellow newcomer Flynn.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2017