Definition of "significant other" [significant other]

• A person, such as a spouse or lover, with whom one shares a long-term sexual relationship. (noun)
• A person, such as a family member or close friend, who is important or influential in one's life: "The most important variable in successful smoking cessation is the support of significant others in the new nonsmoker's life” ( Carolyn Reuben). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Another villager could tell who a person's significant other was: for Goody, Gwenny."
• "There is nothing more frustrating than sitting down to a bowl of fruit while your significant other slathers butter on a slice of bacon and asks you to pass the half-and-half."