Polycule

Our polycule doubled in size when my spouse started seeing Boris, whose husband has six other partners.

The five of us started calling ourselves a "polycule" back in the fall of 2012, when our relationships and sexual lives were so thoroughly entangled with one another that we looked like several relationship atoms often sharing orbits together.

While nonmonogamy doesn't always mean having multiple partners, Ezra's polycule comprises multiple sexual partners.

Unbeknownst to him, Janice had, some three weeks prior, broken up with one of her partners from a polycule in Colorado.

The duo and eight others comprising the financial whiz’s inner circle shared a tony penthouse in the Bahamas, a living arrangement that some, including tech mogul Elon Musk, reportedly described as a “polycule”– that is, “a connected network of people and relationships, all of whom are in some way involved emotionally, sexually, or romantically with at least one other person”.

Sarah is more reserved, especially when it comes to sharing details about “tender” situations, and she’s also protective of the other members of her polycule. What one part of the polycule says about another could have huge, messy ripple effects throughout the whole group.

But among all the throuples, polycules and nesting partners, there exists another category of polyamory that still throws many for a loop: solo polyamory, or having concurrent intimate relationships while maintaining independence.