The "friendzone" is the position of a person who removed from eligibility for romantic or sexual consideration due to an existing friendship with the object of their desire.
The term applies to a range of situations: On the innocent end of the spectrum, awkwardness, timing, or fear of losing the friendship
may keep a person in the friendzone.
There those who step forwards to confess, to be rejected and told remaining friends is more desirable. They must either enter the friendzone, or end all contact. Or, the focus of the desire
may be aware of the romantic interest, and purposefully ignore, discourage, and downplay it to prevent the friendship from changing.
At the pernicious end, either person in the dynamic
may use the friendzone to take advantage. A person with sexual interest
may try to use the friendzone to gain intimate access under the guise of false friendship. Or the recipient of affection
may purposefully encourage the feelings in order to get benefits, like attention, favors, or money (aka "simping")
It is challenging to shift a person'
s view from platonic to romantic, so becoming "trapped in the friendzone" is seen as a difficult fate to
change and few successfully "escape the friendzone" to enter a
relationship.
The term can be parodied in other situations where a person is rendered romantically inviable due to the type of existing
relationship, such as "
brother/sister-zoned" (i.e. the object of the feelings views the other person like a sibling)
A: "Did you hear?
Tom finally escaped the friendzone and now he and Claire are
dating!"
B: Took him long enough! They
may have been friends since middle school, but he's been pining after her for the last five years!"