girlfriend

«girlfriend» in Mova's school dictionary: a girl or woman that someone is in a romantic… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a girlfriend, girlfriends)

meaning for a pupil

1) A girlfriend is a girl or woman that someone is in a romantic relationship with. tree →

2) A girlfriend can also be a female friend, often said by women about their friends, especially in the USA. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life teenagers and adults talk about their girlfriend; in stories a character may «have a girlfriend». Among women, «my girlfriends» can just mean close female friends. Phrases: his girlfriend, her girlfriend, my girlfriend, ex-girlfriend.

examples

• My big brother is taking his girlfriend to the cinema. tree →
• Uncle Jack brought his girlfriend to the barbecue. tree →
• Mum went out for dinner with her girlfriends. (US) tree →
• They have been girlfriend and boyfriend for two years. tree →
• His ex-girlfriend moved to Canada. tree →
• Aunt Sarah and her girlfriend live by the sea. tree →

note

Countable noun, written as one word. The male pair is «boyfriend». «Ex-girlfriend» is a former one. A girl who is just a friend is usually called «a friend», not «my girlfriend», unless she is a woman talking about friends.

In the corpora

• Grown-ups also tease children about girlfriends and crushes, and older people sometimes find new partners late in life.
• "Partner" means a boyfriend, girlfriend or someone you live with without marrying.
• "Friend" can politely mean a boyfriend or girlfriend.
• "Lady friend" means a man's girlfriend (old-fashioned).
• Someone who is heartbroken is very sad because a boyfriend or girlfriend has ended things; being gentle and giving them space helps.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «girlfriend» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.