: a person who accompanies an invited guest to an event or gathering at which guests are allowed to bring a companion or partner
My husband twice received handsome engraved invitations to presidential dinners. For those events and many others, I was the perpetual plus-one.Ana Marie Cox

Examples of plus-one in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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However, their tune immediately changed after one of the family members asked if their children were invited, and another requested a plus-one. Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 17 Oct. 2025 Many were plus-ones—women on various arms, posing and temporary, there for generalized love of art or love for some particular and passing artist. Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2025 The family sent out an electronic invitation and asked for the name of my plus-one. Jeanne Phillips, Mercury News, 7 Oct. 2025 Echoing Vallario, Hoover knew that Burch and Derek Blasberg, the hosts—both of whom are parents—wouldn’t bat an eye at a tiny plus-one. Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 15 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for plus-one

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of plus-one was in 1977

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Cite this Entry

“Plus-one.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plus-one. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

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