The 📝Consensual Non-Monogamy (CNM) Glossary is a collection of terms used across polyamorous, open, and other consensual non-monogamous relationship structures for those navigating or studying these relational frameworks.
Glossary
A
- 📝Anchor Partner — a relationship within polyamory that provides emotional stability and grounding without implying hierarchical prioritization over other partners.
B
- 📝BDSMR — a five-part consent checklist (Boundaries, Desires, STDs, Meaning, Relationships) for navigating intimate encounters with intentionality.
C
- 📝Comet Partner — a romantic partner who lives in another city, state, or country and is connected with infrequently.
- 📝compersion — a feeling of joy when a loved one invests in and takes pleasure from another romantic or sexual relationship.
- 📝Consensual Non-Monogamy (CNM) — umbrella term for relationship structures where all participants explicitly agree to engage in romantic or sexual connections with more than one person.
- 📝Couple Privilege — the unearned social, structural, and emotional advantages granted to established dyads over other forms of intimate connection.
D
- 📝De-escalation — intentionally shifting a relationship into a less entangled form rather than ending it altogether.
- 📝DIBS — a conversational framework (Desire, Intention, Boundaries, Sexuality/STI) similar to BDSMR for pre-intimacy check-ins.
E
- 📝Ethical Non-Monogamy (ENM) — the practice of intimate relationships with more than one partner, conducted with full knowledge and consent of all involved, often used interchangeably with CNM.
H
- 📝Hierarchical Polyamory — a form of CNM where individuals prioritize certain relationships above others, often distinguishing between primary, secondary, and tertiary partners.
K
- 📝Kitchen Table Polyamory — a style of CNM where all partners, including metamours, engage in friendly, communal, or familial interactions.
M
- 📝Metamour — the partner of one's partner, with whom one does not share a direct romantic or sexual relationship.
N
- 📝Nesting Partner — a romantic partner with whom one shares a living space, used as a descriptive alternative to hierarchical labels like primary partner.
- 📝New Relationship Energy (NRE) — the intense surge of excitement, infatuation, and emotional investment that characterizes the early stages of a romantic connection.
- 📝Non-Hierarchical Polyamory — a relationship structure that rejects classifying partners into primary or secondary roles, ensuring no connection holds automatic authority over others.
O
- 📝One Penis Policy — a restrictive agreement in non-monogamous relationships where a woman may pursue connections with other women but not other men.
P
- 📝Parallel Polyamory — a style of CNM where an individual maintains multiple relationships that exist independently, with little to no direct interaction between partners.
- 📝Play Party — a social event where attendees engage in BDSM or sexually arousing activities within a consent-governed, community-monitored space.
- 📝polyamory — the practice of engaging in multiple romantic relationships simultaneously with the knowledge and consent of all involved.
- 📝Polycule — the network of interconnected relationships formed among people in a polyamorous arrangement, named by analogy to a molecule's atomic structure.
- 📝Primary Partner — an individual with whom a person maintains their most central romantic relationship, often involving shared responsibilities like cohabitation or finances.
R
- 📝RADAR — a structured monthly check-in framework (Review, Agree, Discuss, Action, Reconnect) for intentional relationship maintenance.
- 📝Relationship Anarchy — a philosophical approach that rejects traditional relational hierarchies, advocating for autonomy and co-created connection on each relationship's own terms.
- 📝Relationship Escalator — the dominant cultural script for linear relationship progression (dating, exclusivity, cohabitation, marriage), against which many CNM practitioners consciously opt out.
- 📝Relational Sovereignty — a relational framework that prioritizes an individual's primary relationship with themselves as the basis for forming healthy connections with others.
S
- 📝swinging — a form of CNM where couples engage in sexual activities with other couples or individuals, typically emphasizing recreational sex rather than romantic connection.
U
- 📝Unicorn Hunting — pejorative term for a couple seeking a bisexual woman to join their existing relationship as a "third," criticized for inherent power imbalances and objectification.
V
- 📝Veto Power — a mechanism in hierarchical non-monogamy granting an established partner the authority to unilaterally terminate or restrict their partner's other relationships.