one-night stand

noun

1

: a performance (as of a play or concert) given (as by a traveling group of actors or musicians) only once in each of a series of localities

2

a

: a locality used for one-night stands

b

: a stopover for a one-night stand

3

: a sexual encounter limited to a single occasion

also : a partner in such an encounter

Examples of one-night stand in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There were other stories that bothered him more, like a post by a writer who recounted a chaste one-night stand with Tea Party activist and Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell that described her pubic hair. —Frank Digiacomo, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2026

Or was Amelia’s hook-up with Cass more of a one-night stand? —Max Gao, Variety, 8 May 2026

The comedy lies in the unwavering sincerity with which every ridiculous twist is treated, from one-night stands with a cuy fighter and multiple fires to violent abductions and a heartbroken lover riding her motorcycle off a cliff. —Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2026

If Evan had kept his mouth shut about his one-night stand with Lucy, so many of the threads wouldn’t have ever been knotted in the story. —Dana Feldman, Forbes.com, 16 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for one-night stand

• analysand
• misunderstand
• ampersand
• beforehand
• behindhand
• bottomland
• contraband
• countermand
• dixieland
• fairyland
• fatherland
• firebrand