flirtship

English

Etymology

From flirt +‎ -ship.

Noun

flirtship (plural flirtships)

1. (informal) A friendship which involves flirting but that has not yet progressed into a serious relationship.
   • 2011, M[atthew] T[obin] Anderson, Zombie Mommy, New York, N.Y. […]: Beach Lane Books, →ISBN, page 145:

     Drgnan suggested, "You might sit beside me instead of on me. My legs are falling asleep." ¶ "Okay," said Madigan, "is that one of your monklike secret sayings, in which you mean that you don't know how to go forward in our flirtship, or is it—"

   • 2018 September 6, Jack O'Keeffe, “The 'Big Brother' Showmance You've Been Waiting For Is Officially Official”, in Bustle‎^[1], archived from the original on 2021-09-21:

     After weeks of the kind of "will they/won't they" tension that great television romances are made of, Tyler and Angela have turned their flirtship into a full-blown showmance on Big Brother.

   • 2021 September 11, “maybe i'm reaching..? but i feel like serena may have been IN on brendan/pieper scandal...”, in Reddit‎^[2], r/bachelorinparadise, archived from the original on 19 December 2023:

     Chris, Jessenia, Alana situation--I don't think there was any ploy. They all knew each other and I'm sure many contestants have flirtships at one point or another but I don't think they had any plot to begin with or else Chris wouldn't have left so easily.

References

• “flirtship, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.