Ambiamorous (adjective) Being open to either monogamous or non-monogamous relationships.
Anchor Partner
An anchor partner is an emotional support partner with whom you have a strong connection and helps ground and balance you. An anchor partner may or may not be a nesting partner, romantic partner or sexual partner.
Further Reading
Birthday Party Poly
See Garden Party Poly.
Chosen Family
Chosen family, or family of choice, is made up of people that fulfill the roles that family of origin often do. This can include care taking, emotional support, financial support, and sharing time at holidays or other special events.
Further Reading
Comet
Comet (noun) – A regular partner, possibly long-distance, that one connects with infrequently.
Example
We see each other once a year, at the conference. We’ve been doing this for the past 10 years.
Compersion
Compersion (noun) – The state of being happy for another person’s happiness. Often used to describe being happy at seeing one’s romantic partner experiencing happiness with other partners.
Example
Chris and Dotty are romantic partners. Dotty is also romantically involved with Stan. Chris feels compersion when he sees how happy Dotty is with Stan.
Further Reading
Consensual Non-Monogamy
See Ethical Non-Monogamy.
Couple Privilege
Couple Privilege is the advantage a two person partnership has. It is a priority that is given to a couple over other relationships. Often this is manifested in society when the couple is open to the world about their own relationship, but not other relationships. It is often seen when an invitation is made with a +1 and it is assumed the known partner is will be the +1.
Further Reading
Poly For Us article: What is Couple Privilege?
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
A relationship style, in which the participants agree to non-monogamy, but do not want to know the details, or perhaps even the existence of, their partner’s other romantic or sexual relationships.
Example
Bill and Ted are married and have a don’t ask don’t tell relationship. Ted doesn’t know that Bill is also dating Rufus. This doesn’t violate their don’t ask don’t tell relationship agreement.
Ethical Non-Monogamy
Ethical Non-Monogamy (ENM) is a consensually agreed upon relationship structure that allows those involved to engage with more than one partner, romantically, sexually, or emotionally. People negotiate and agree to the terms of their non-monogamous relationship. There are several types of ethical non-monogamy including open relationship, swinging, monogamish, polyamory, polygamy, and relationship anarchy.