Dating in this day and age comes with a dictionarys worth of funny lingo from half-night stands and monogamish to orbiting , curving and serendipidating . Recently, Ive noticed a term for a specific kind of romantic connection cropping up more often in memes , love articles and conversations among friends: situationship.

Assuming youve dipped your toes into the dating waters, odds are youve found yourself in a situationship of sorts at some time. Maybe its even been a more frequent experience for you than traditional relationships. On an early episode of the U.S. edition of Love Island, one contestant declared, Ive never had a proper relationship. Ive been in situationships, but never an actual relationship.

But what exactly is a situationship? And what are the upsides and downsides of this type of dynamic? HuffPost spoke to a number of relationship experts to find out.