throning

Plenty of Fish named it in its trends for 2019 (opens in a new window): “If you date someone to boost your personal profile or reputation, you’re throning.” The app surveyed 1,000 single users in December 2018 and reported that 9 percent admitted doing it, while 27 percent believed someone had dated them “for the sake of social climbing.”

In October 2025 USA Today (opens in a new window) brought the word back, quoting a relationship coach: “Throning is when someone positions their partner as a status symbol.” The name, the coach said, comes from “the idea of putting someone ‘on a throne’ to boost your own clout/social capital.” Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new window) entered it that December as “dating someone because they increase your social status and reputation.”

Under load, the partner is booked as an asset and depreciated as one. The survey’s own figures leave 18 points between the share who admitted the practice and the share who suspected it had been done to them. That gap is the part of the market that is sure it was used and confident it never used anyone. The throne seats one, and the arrangement lasts as long as the holder’s standing needs the seat filled.