Dictionary

dalliance en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈdæli.əns/ (General-American)
• /ˈdælɪəns/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English daliaunce et al., from dalien (“to exchange pleasantries, to chat; to flirt”), from Old French dalier, dailer. By surface analysis, dally + -ance.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Playful flirtation; amorous play.
   • But that dalliance has been dashed in less than three months, with the developer now claiming the Trump brand is now too “toxic” to work with – and the Trump Organization responding that their local partner had provided only “empty promise, after empty promise”. 2026 May 13, Joe Hinchliffe, “Plan for $1.5bn Trump Tower on Gold Coast scrapped because brand ‘toxic to Australians’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • “Mark,” said Gabriel, sternly, “now you mind this: none of that dalliance-talk—that philandering way—that dandle-smack-and-coddle style of yours—about Miss Everdene. I don’t allow it. Do you hear?” 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:
   • If this were the case, his return showed that the struggle had been unsuccessful, for Lily knew he was not the man to waste his time in an ineffectual sentimental dalliance. 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
   • As in the season of rutting (an uncouth phrase, by which the vulgar denote that gentle dalliance, which in the well-wooded forest of Hampshire, passes between lovers of the ferine kind), 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XI, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book V:
2. (countable, uncountable) An episode of dabbling.
3. (countable, uncountable) A wasting of time in idleness or trifles.
   • He had passed the officer now. There was no necessity for dalliance. He pressed the accelerator down a trifle. 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mad King, A.C. McClurg, published 1926:
   • Quite a few minutes would be spun out, for instance, at the smallish town of Chirk, but to me the dalliance was generally worthwhile, except in wet weather, because of the increasing beauty of the wooded hill scenery thereabouts. 1955 January, R. S. McNaught, “From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western”, in Railway Magazine, page 18:
   • But, with a gesture, she put a period to this dalliance—one shouldn't palter so on an empty stomach, she might almost have said. 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/4/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
   • Emerging, satiated, from the theatre, a public timepiece before a jeweller's shop confronted him with an unexpected dial and imminent perplexities. How was he to explain at home these hours of dalliance? 1914, Booth Tarkington, Penrod, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:
4. (countable, uncountable) A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit.

Forms

Relateds

dallying · dallier · dally

Synonyms

trifling · affairette · affair · idling · liaison · fling · flirtation · dawdling

Translations (52)

fi flirtti (playful flirtation) · nl verspilling (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · pl flirt (playful flirtation) · es amorío (A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit) · gd mànran (playful flirtation) · es coqueteo (playful flirtation) · bg губене на време (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · fr flirt (playful flirtation) · hu kokettálás (playful flirtation) · fr baguenaudage (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · el χασομέρι (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · es galanteo (playful flirtation) · cs koketování (playful flirtation) · cs flirtování (playful flirtation) · el χαριεντισμός (playful flirtation) · de Seitensprung (A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit) · de Trödelei (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · fi lorvailu (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · hu kacérkodás (playful flirtation) · fr conter fleurette (playful flirtation) · fi peli (playful flirtation) · de Tändelei (playful flirtation) · ru заи́грывание (playful flirtation) · nl tijdverlies (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · nl flirt (playful flirtation) · cs laškování (playful flirtation) · fr glandouillage (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · fi teerenpeli (playful flirtation) · fr coquetage (playful flirtation) · de Liebesspiel (playful flirtation) · fr perte de temps (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · fi ajan tappaminen (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · fi flirttailu (playful flirtation) · pt paquera (playful flirtation) · es flirteo (playful flirtation) · ru праздное времяпрепровожде́ние (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · cs aférka (A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit) · hu flört (playful flirtation) · ru флирт (playful flirtation) · hu flörtölés (playful flirtation) · bg флирт (playful flirtation) · ru коке́тство (playful flirtation) · de Flirt (playful flirtation) · fi notkuminen (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · pl zaloty (playful flirtation) · ru интрижка (A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit) · de Zeitverschwendung (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · es devaneo (A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit) · es requiebro (playful flirtation) · nl gelanterfanter (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · fi hengailu (a wasting of time in idleness or trifles) · el ερωτοτροπία (playful flirtation)