one-night stand

noun

Updated on: 8 Apr 2018

Definition of one-night stand

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

See one-night stand defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of one-night stand from the Web

One is God for God is One— The only one in a one-night stand.

— david sedaris, The New Yorker, "Who Knows One," 24 Mar. 2018
Brette didn’t care that the hot popular guy was only offering a one-night stand, and that her peers would hear about it and judge.

— meredith goldstein, BostonGlobe.com, "How Meredith Goldstein became an advice columnist when her own love life was falling apart," 22 Mar. 2018
Inevitably, Alex's body is discovered and his one-night stand with Cassie becomes public.

— maureen corrigan, chicagotribune.com, "'The Flight Attendant' is, yes, the perfect airplane read," 19 Mar. 2018
The three people Claire interacts with are all Korean: There’s Jeon Manhee (Kim Min-hee, perhaps best known to Western audiences as the star of The Handmaiden), a film saleswoman who’s fired because of her one-night stand with a director.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Claire's Camera and the Beguiling Films of Hong Sang-soo," 8 Mar. 2018
In one infamous analysis of passenger data, Uber identified one-night stands.

— The Economist, "Self-driving cars offer huge benefits—but have a dark side," 1 Mar. 2018
Eventually, Kovacs sets his sites on a top suspect: Miriam Bancroft (played by Kinnaman's fellow The Killing alum Kristin Lehman), Laurens' wife, and someone Kovacs has already encountered in a one-night stand.

— josh wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Altered Carbon' Star on the Show's Sensuality: "It's More About Warfare Than True Pleasure"," 13 Feb. 2018
Children are optional!), your desire to travel and spend more time alone, to develop more of a sense of independence, your longing for one-night stands will fade.

— mallory ortberg, Slate Magazine, "Love of a Good Manhandler," 28 Mar. 2017
Sleeping with Other People stars Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis as Lainey and Jake, who lost their virginities to each other during a one-night stand in college.

— scott meslow, GQ, "Netflix Just Added Two Great Romantic Comedies for Dudes," 3 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'one-night stand.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of one-night stand

1880

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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ONE-NIGHT STAND Defined for English Language Learners

one-night stand

noun

Definition of one-night stand for English Language Learners

: a situation in which you have sex with someone once and you do not continue in a relationship afterwards; also : one of the people involved in this situation
: a performance of a play, concert, etc., that is given only once in a particular place