Third-wheel

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To act as a third wheel; to accompany two people, unwanted, on a date. ambitransitive

    "The Argentine polo star, Ralph Lauren model and personal pal to Harry was with the royal couple on Thursday as he and Harry’s polo team scored the winning trophy at the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup. He even third-wheeled the newlyweds as the pair shared a congratulatory kiss after the charity match, a hilarious moment caught by photographers."

Example

More examples

"The Argentine polo star, Ralph Lauren model and personal pal to Harry was with the royal couple on Thursday as he and Harry’s polo team scored the winning trophy at the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup. He even third-wheeled the newlyweds as the pair shared a congratulatory kiss after the charity match, a hilarious moment caught by photographers."

Etymology

From third wheel.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.