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:
At the time, Downer’s boyfriend, Brandon, claimed that she had moved out several months earlier, leaving behind everything she owned including her car and dog, according to LAPD.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
The former boyfriend of music sensation Rihanna was handed an eight-month jail term suspended for a year -- meaning he will not be imprisoned unless he commits another offence during the period.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
Reams of magazine profiles spotlight everyday people choosing to share their lives with an AI boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026
Price and her boyfriend make ends meet thanks to subsidized housing and unemployment benefits of about £650 a month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
It couldn’t have been my grandmother, anyway, because she was in California this Christmas with her boyfriend, Uncle Gene.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
Alhough I’ve never been good at making friends, I’ve always succeeded at landing boyfriends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
“I’ve made lots of mistakes with boyfriends and husbands,” said Johnson, who has been married three times.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
The barbarians of buyouts past, it seems, are now the sought-after boyfriends of the beautiful and famous.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 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
No parties, no boyfriends, no nothing,” she said at last after the dishes were put away.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
