Dear English-speaking friends! Do you use the word “relations” as a synonym of “relationship”, in the sense of “everything that goes between a romantically-involved couple”? Thanks in advance.
Relations
Published
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Aharoni in Unicode 
No, because people in a romantic relationship are not related (usually). The closest use of relations to what you asked is when you’re trying to refer subtly to the fact that the people in a relationship are sleeping together (ie, having relations).
Somewhat archaically (older than my parents’ generation), relations and relatives are used interchangeably.
For me at least,relations and relationship are not synonyms. ,relations does have the meaning that you are getting at – some kind of abstract noun naming the ways people interact. Also relations can be used as a euphemism for sex especially in the structure ‘have relations with X’ as NG mentions above.
I would use it of organizations or countries, e.g. “Microsoft has (un)friendly relations with Apple”, not so much with people, and certainly not of a couple. It seems like a closer synonym to “interactions” than “relationship”, and also to imply more of a casual connection than an established partnership. The “euphemism for sex” that people have mentioned is I think mostly used in legal contexts: “the accused had relations with the complainant”.