- colloquially used as a gender-neutral term for a person’s partner in an intimate relationship
- in psychology, any person who has great importance to an individual’s life or well-being
- in sociology, any person with a strong influence on an individual’s self concept
- in social psychology the term refers to a parent, parental figure, guardian or teacher
- as a project space, an environment of dialogue between architecture and contemporary art, diversity of distinct scenes, positions and discourses