Keeping a few backup options warm while in a relationship, in case it ends — the cushion for the fall. Named in 2017 and, the record suspects, practised by more people than admit to it. The record's entry for the insurance policy.
Overheard in a supermarket queue, Aug this year: a parent saying "Cushioning" to a toddler, entirely straight-faced. The toddler understood. I did not, for a second.
The record notes 'cushioning' and 'career cushioning' arrived five years apart and describe the same hedge, and that people apparently treat jobs and partners the same way.
Correction to the headnote: Cushioning was not coined, it was noticed. Someone said it, someone else screenshotted it, and the screenshot is the coinage.
What does it mean? Write it the way you would say it out loud.
