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friendship with benefits

friendship with benefits

7.3
Two friends who have sex but are not a romantic couple
  • noun
  • /ˈfrɛndʃɪp wɪð ˈbɛnɪfɪts/
  • NSFW
translation icon : amistad con beneficios
  • Maintaining a friendship with benefits can be complicated if one person develops deeper feelings.

Examples

  • After their breakups, they agreed to a friendship with benefits without any pressure for commitment.

  • Some people find a friendship with benefits easier than a traditional relationship.

  • They have a friendship with benefits that works for both of them.

  • Is a friendship with benefits really a good idea?

  • After their breakups, they agreed to a friendship with benefits without any pressure for commitment.

  • Maintaining a friendship with benefits can be complicated if one person develops deeper feelings.

  • Some people find a friendship with benefits easier than a traditional relationship.

Synonyms

friends with benefits
vsfriendship with benefits
  • NSFW
5 7.4

Friends who have sex but are not a romantic couple

is the same concept but names the relationship rather than two people

Antonyms

395 2.3

A close relationship between two people who love each other

How Committed

marriage
1.0
exclusive
399 5.4
dating
357 1.6
friendship with benefits
  • NSFW
7.3
hookup
  • NSFW
20 8.2
one-night stand
  • NSFW
36 6.3

Surface Forms

Morphology

friendship + with + benefit

Although a learner who knows 'friendship', 'with' and 'benefit' might infer 'a friendship that includes some extra advantages', the specific sense of sexual activity without romantic commitment is a euphemistic, culture-specific use of 'benefits' that is not predictable from the literal meanings. This idiomatic, pragmatic meaning (as in 'friends with benefits') is therefore not transparently derivable for a B1 learner who has not encountered the expression before.

Etymology

Friendship with benefits may come from the simple idea of a regular friendship plus extra benefits, like physical closeness or sex, but without becoming a romantic partner. So the phrase shows a friendly bond that also includes sexual activity 'without commitment'.