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Significant other (or SO) is a gender-blind, politically correct term to refer to a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about his or her marital status or sexual orientation. It is also vague enough to avoid offence from using a term that an individual might consider inappropriate (e.g. lover when he or she considers him a boyfriend, or her a girlfriend when he or she considers her a life partner). Nonetheless, some are offended by the implication that persons with whom one is not having a "primary" sexual relationship are "insignificant" or would as a matter of course get lesser consideration and emotional disrespect compared to the "significant" one.

In the United States the term is sometimes used in invitations, e.g. to weddings and office parties. In this context, a person and their significant other might not be cohabiting and might not be engaging in sexual relations. For example, a person's fiancé(e) would be considered a significant other, without any assumptions regarding living arrangements or sexual activity before their marriage. Conversely, it is assumed that some sort of steady connection exists between the invitee and their significant other, i.e. the event for which the invitation is extended won't be their first date.

The first known occurrence of the term was in 1953 by U.S. psychiatrist, Harry Stack Sullivan, a former editor of the journal Psychiatry, in his posthumously published work, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry^[1]. While the term currently enjoys use and familiarity, greatest use of the term peaked in the late 80s to mid 90s and has generally declined since then if favor of other terminology as deemed appropriate.

Its usage in both psychology and sociology is very different from its colloquial use. In psychology, a significant other is any person who has great importance to an individual's life or well-being. In sociology, it describes any person or persons with a strong influence on an individual's self-evaluation, which are important to this individual, as well as reception of particular social norms. This usage is synonymous with the term "relevant other" and can also be found in plural form—"significant others".

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