one-night stand

noun

: a performance (as of a play or concert) given (as by a traveling group of actors or musicians) only once in each of a series of localities

: a locality used for one-night stands

: a stopover for a one-night stand

: a sexual encounter limited to a single occasion

also : a partner in such an encounter

Examples of one-night stand in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The pair meet on the night of their university graduation (having run in vastly different social circles), enjoy an amusing (yet ultimately failed) attempt at a one-night stand, and their lives end up becoming irrevocably intertwined in the aftermath. —

refinery29.com, 27 Dec. 2024 All of the visits are one-night stands, with the exception of two nights at Knoxville’s Tennessee Theatre on Aug. 23-24. —

Chris Willman, Variety, 3 Dec. 2024 The last time Horgan saw Fisher at dinner in London, the actresses had been there working on season 3 of Catastrophe — the 2015 sitcom Horgan and Rob Delaney created and starred in about a couple who got pregnant after a one-night stand. —

Julia Moore, People.com, 28 Nov. 2024 Then the actor allegedly confessed to Stone about the one-night stand. —

Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 21 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for one-night stand

Word History

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of one-night stand was in 1880

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“One-night stand.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one-night%20stand. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Copy Citation