A committed relationship is an interpersonal relationship based upon a mutually agreed-upon commitment to one another involving exclusivity, love, trust, honesty, openness, or some other agreed-upon behavior. Forms of committed relationships are: close friendship, courtship, long-term relationships (LTR), engagement, marriage, and civil unions. The term is most commonly used with informal relationships, such as "going steady," but may encompass any relationship where an expressed commitment is involved.
Terms related to committed relationship include:
monogamy: having a single long-term sexual partnercommitment marriage: a non-legal marriage binding two people together with the use of a traditional wedding ring opposed to legal documentsmarriage: a legal and spiritual binding between two people that stretches beyond the boundaries of a committed relationship.Female-led relationship: committed relationship where the principle partner is the woman and led by the woman; a matriarchal, female-centric, role-reversed relationship away from the former traditional patriarchal, male-centric relationshipsexual infidelity: having a sexual relationship outside of a relationship that includes a commitment to have no other sexual partnerssexual fidelity: not having other sexual partners other than one's committed partner, even temporarilyserial monogamy: having a series of monogamous relationships, one after the otheropen relationship: a commitment to a partner without excluding other romantic or sexual involvementpolygamy: having multiple long-term sexual partnerspolyandry: having multiple long-term male sexual partnerspolygyny: having multiple long-term female sexual partnerspolyamory: encompasses a wide range of relationships, including those above: polyamorous relationships may include both committed and casual relationshipspromiscuity: having casual sexual partners at will (compare with chastity)relationship anarchy (or relationship activism): having relationships that do not need to be guided by any predetermined rules or norms, but rather can be developed as an agreement between those involved.