meet-cute

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 3, 2023 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>meet-cute</strong> &#149; \MEET-kyoot\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><em>Meet-cute</em> is a term that refers to a cute, charming, or amusing first encounter between romantic partners. A meet-cute can be such an encounter as shown in a movie or television show, or one that happens in real life.</p> <p>// The elderly couple loved sharing the story of their hilarious <em>meet-cute</em> from 30 years ago. </p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meet-cute">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>“The star of E!'s new original TV movie <em>Why Can’t My Life Be a Rom-Com?</em> recently revealed the ‘pretty cute’ way she met her current partner, and the story is just like a <em>meet-cute</em> out of one of your favorite films.” — Brett Malec, <em>E! Online</em>, 19 Feb. 2023</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>Isn’t it cute how two words can be introduced to each other and become an inseparable pair soon after? Well, that’s exactly what happened when <em>meet</em> and <em>cute</em> got together in 1952. The duo was spotted in <em>The New York Times Book Review</em> in 1952 in reference to an unexpected <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rendezvous">rendezvous</a>: “This may well be, in magazine parlance, the neatest meet-cute of the week—the story of a ghost-writer who falls in love with a ghost.” Today the word is used often to refer to such encounters in films and television series (especially <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rom-com">rom-coms</a> and sitcoms). Writers of meet-cutes often develop plots by creating situations in which characters clash in personality, or by creating embarrassing situations in which two eventual romantic partners will meet, or by creating a misunderstanding