boyfriend
Americanadjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of boyfriend
Explanation
A boyfriend is a male romantic partner. Your cousin might ask if she can bring her boyfriend to the family Thanksgiving dinner this year. Usually, your boyfriend is a boy or man you're romantically involved with. Your aunt might join a dating site after breaking up with her boyfriend, and your ten year old neighbor might announce she has a boyfriend after a boy leaves a candy bar on her desk. The words boyfriend and girlfriend first appeared in the early 1900s, around the start of modern dating in the US.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“You’re not like other girls,” Tina tells Gen when her daughter asks why she can’t take a half-hour break from training to be with her boyfriend.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
She wasn’t a huge fan of Trump, she said, but she had wanted to buy something for her boyfriend.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
Frankie invents a new nonsensical insult, calling Molly’s boyfriend Josh “such a customer.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Plus, the ‘Jury Duty’ scam costing Americans thousands, and why so many celebrities are finding themselves a private-equity boyfriend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
“She broke up with her boyfriend or something,” Erlan told me.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
I had roommates, boyfriends, best friends and involved parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The phenomenon of artificial intelligence boyfriends and girlfriends is growing worldwide, along with the prevalence of human-like avatars that sell products or stand in for loved ones who have died.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
The wedding, this theory goes, was payback for 20 years’ worth of media that characterized her as desperate and lovelorn and having only herself to blame for boyfriends who wilted under the media’s gaze.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
The New York Times reported that the spouses sparked a romantic connection in May 2021 while on vacation with friends in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and officially became boyfriends later that year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026
“Plenty of time for boyfriends, then. Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
From "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
