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:
The woman’s answer was simple: “My boyfriend is a big Justin Herbert fan.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Holly's boyfriend, who was inside the house at the time, answers the door to the man and moves his car off the drive in front of the house.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
When we found blood in our cat Gumdrop’s stool earlier this year, my boyfriend, Ean, and I rushed him to the vet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Holly said her boyfriend had been in the property at the time, looking after the house while she was away with her children.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Then I started to wonder how come someone so smart like Calista would have a boyfriend who was a real idiot.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
It’s women bringing their boyfriends, women who now bring their husbands, couples coming together, and I love it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 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
During Tuesday's proceedings, the court heard from Nora Haukland's former boyfriends, including one who spoke of their "peaceful break-up" and his respect for her, and another who described their relationship as turbulent.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
“How come you got so many boyfriends, Miss Marie?”
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
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.
