The excuse a man gives for a woman rejecting him sexually/romantically when he expected a payoff for being friendly.

The seventh level of hell, where despite all and any efforts to the contrary, no member of the opposite sex will ever see you as anything more than conversation.

Usually due to being a minger, though possibly part of an atmosphere of victimisation around one or more people in a social group.

"Friend zone" describes the way most women stop seeing a male friend as dating material after a certain amount of time has passed, even though she might have begun dating them had he acted differently when they first met.

John meets Mary. Mary thinks "This guy seems nice. He's quite funny and reasonably good looking". John doesn't ask Mary out, but they see each other at social functions. After a while, Mary stops seeing John as a nice guy who is quite funny and reasonably good looking, and just sees him as friend. John realizes he's secretly madly in love with Mary and begins trying to hang out with her more and more. Because John loves Mary, he stops behaving reasonably and starts doing anything just to spend time with her. Eventually, he summons his courage and confesses his love for her. But Mary just feels uncomfortable and confused. She doesn't want to lose her friend and she feels pressured by his feelings for her. To be honest, John's been a little needy and pathetic lately, hanging on her every word and catering to her every whim, and that's not really very sexy.

John had a chance when they first met but he fucked it up by not doing anything about it. When he finally got his act together, the friendship that developed actively interfered with his potential of getting Mary to go on a date with him.

source & further examples: reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/o01v8/what_i_think_when_someone_talks_about_friendzoning/c3denue

The perennial location of nice guys everywhere.

When you are expected to support a girl you really like while she searches for a smarter, richer, or more handsome boyfriend. There is little you can do to get out without feeling like a dick. All in all, one of the meanest things girls do, whether they mean it or not.

It's the point when a girl decides that you're her friend, you're no longer a dating option. You become this complete non-sexual entity in her eyes, like a brother, or a lamp.

Is a misogynistic term used by males who befriend females for the soul purpose of getting in their pants, but are unable to because the female is either uninterested, dating someone already, or has some other reason.

A person who uses this term usual feels victimized because the girl doesn't dish out, and the female is characterized as being the bad guy for not reciprocating his feelings.