Relationships are the most basic social building blocks for your character. The important people surrounding them will aid in their success or contribute to their downfall, and you’ll need some of each in your character’s life to craft a story with all the necessary ups-and-downs. Enter the Relationship Thesaurus, where we’ve examined the types of relationships that commonly exist and explored the numerous ways to make them healthy or dysfunctional, safe or toxic, supportive or full of conflict—whatever you need to take your story to the next level.
To explore dynamics for the relationships in your story, see the following samples of the entries in our popular Relationship Thesaurus. For the complete and enhanced collection, please visit One Stop For Writers, where it has a permanent place within our vast Description Thesaurus Collection. You can access it and our other thesauruses with the click of a button as you write.
- What is a Relationship Thesaurus?
- Acquaintances
- Adult Child and Elderly Parent
- Benefactor and Recipient
- Best Friends
- Boss and Employee
- Bully and Victim
- Business Partners
- Caregiver and Client
- Co-Volunteers
- Co-Workers
- Editor and Author
- Enemies
- Estranged Parent and Child
- Executive & Personal Assistant
- Exes
- Fling Participants
- Forced Marriage
- Frenemies
- Friends
- Friends with Benefits
- Giver and Taker
- Godparent and Child
- Grandparent and Child
- Guard and Prisoner
- Headmaster and Student
- Host and Guest
- Imaginary Friend and Child
- In-laws
- Landlord and Tenant
- Master and Apprentice
- Mentor and Protégé
- Nanny and Child
- Neighbors
- One-Night Stand Lovers
- Parent and Teen Child
- Parent and Adult Child
- People Who Are Dating
- Police Officer and Confidential Informant
- Principal and Teacher
- Professional and Client
- Protagonist and Crush
- Rivals
- Service Provider and Customer
- Siblings (Youth)
- Spouses and Partners
- Stalker and Target (trigger warning)
- Stepparent and Stepchild
- Teacher and Student
- Therapist and Patient
- Twins
Wow, what a resource! Thank you for this.
Hello Becca,
Thank you for posting this thought-provoking tool. I’m working through my second draft and this Thesaurus is assisting me in further developing my character motivations and relationships.
I’ve purchased “The Emotional Thesaurus.” It’s become one of my go-to resources.
Many thanks!