(りゃくだつあい)

りゃくだつあい
noun
stealing someone away from their partner; poaching a lover
1. stealing someone away from their partner; poaching a lover
A tabloid-style term describing the act of making someone leave their existing partner (spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend) to start a romantic relationship with oneself. Typically carries a sensational or moralizing tone and is common in entertainment news about celebrity affairs and in women's magazines.
略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)(すえ)結婚(けっこん)した。
They married after stealing each other away from their partners.
彼女(かのじょ)友人(ゆうじん)彼氏(かれし)略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)したと(うわさ)されている。
She is rumored to have stolen her friend's boyfriend away.
その女優(じょゆう)略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)芸能(げいのう)ニュースで(おお)きく(ほう)じられた。
The actress's poaching of another woman's partner was heavily covered in entertainment news.
略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)(はじ)まった関係(かんけい)長続(ながつづ)きしないと()(ひと)もいる。
Some people say that relationships that start from stealing a partner away don't last long.

Composed of 略奪(りゃくだつ) (plunder; seizure by force) and (あい) (love). A colorful, tabloid-register compound that frames romantic competition as a "conquest" — the imagery is martial, not literal.

USAGE:
A journalistic and conversational term, not a legal or academic one. It appears in weekly magazines, entertainment news, relationship-advice articles, and casual gossip about who left whom for whom. It can be used about oneself, but usually carries a dramatic or half-joking tone ("I stole him away"). The word does not imply any illegal act — only the breaking up of an existing relationship to form a new one.

COMMON COLLOCATIONS:

  • 略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)(すえ)結婚(けっこん)する: to marry after stealing (the partner) away
  • 略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)成就(じょうじゅ)する: to successfully win over (someone else's partner)
  • 略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)される: to have one's partner stolen away
  • 略奪婚(りゃくだつこん): marriage resulting from 略奪愛(りゃくだつあい)

SIMILAR WORDS:

  • 不倫(ふりん): adultery; extramarital affair — focuses on a married person's affair, not necessarily on taking the partner away
  • 浮気(うわき): cheating; unfaithfulness — a one-sided act of infidelity, typically without intent to leave the current partner
  • 横恋慕(よこれんぼ): unrequited love for someone else's partner — emphasizes longing, not successful poaching
  • 三角関係(さんかくかんけい): love triangle — describes the situation rather than the act of stealing