Difference between Committed and In A Relationship

Key difference: Committed and In a Relationship are two terms that are normally considered to be statuses, which represent the general love relationships in an individual’s life. The term ‘committed’ comes from the word commitment, which represents a trustworthy and reserved type of relationships. While, being ‘in a relationship’ simply means a stage in which two individual’s share their time with each other.

The terms Committed and In a Relationship are used to define the interpersonal relationships in an individual’s life. They can also be considered as ‘society’ words to represent an individual’s current or past status with another person, especially their beloved ones. The two words (status) differ in their meanings, i.e. committed comes from the words like trust, reserved, preserved, or dedicated an pledged; while being 'in a relationship' can be any relationship with an individual that may be committed, living, open, love, passionate, personal, casual, romantic etc. Though nowadays, these terms have become trendy statuses that are represented on social websites and societies, and can be seen on social websites like, facebook, twitter, google+, etc.

Committed relationship means dedicated or devoted relationship. To ‘commit’ for an individual means to ensure themselves with someone, especially with the one whom they love or want to be with and share their life. In committed relationships the individuals are bound to stay with one individual, hence cannot date others. This word highlights trust, commitment, dedication and devotion in a relationship. Also, the word committed can be taken as ‘promised to’ or ‘owe to’, wherein an individual pleadges his/her love forever.

According to Dictionary.com, the word means:

to give in trust or charge; consign
to consign for preservation
to pledge (oneself) to a position on an issue or question; express (one's intention, feeling,
to bind or obligate, as by pledge or assurance; pledge
to entrust, especially for safekeeping; commend
to do; perform; perpetrate
to consign to custody

The term, 'in a relationship' simply means being in a relationship with an individual for a particular time. Relationships constantly keep on changing, but when in love, being in a relationship means to be with an individual that includes complete involvement and sharing their personal and social life. Here, the trust factor lies more, as the word ‘relationship’ relates to the direct connection, bond or permanent affections with thier love ones. It’s always up to an individual of how they carry and live in their relationships. Another known examples of relationships are, living relationships, in which the individuals share their personal and professional lives with one another. Other is ‘marital relationship, in which two individuals are married to each other. 'In a relationship' simply means to be with someone and sharing the emotions, feelings and part of lives.

In love, relationships and commitment have become trend and a part of fashion today. Earlier, such relationships were kept hidden, but today, with mature thinking and development of the society, these relationships have been categorized into different forms. These can be formed at any stage of life, they are not bounded to a particular time span. Both rely on trust, love, affection, infatuations, devotion and dedication. Generally, there can be more than one relationship, but in a committed relationship, the individual is dedicated with only one individual. In both, trust plays a prime role which acts as a pillar of strength in their successful journey.

Comparison between Committed and In A Relationship:

	Committed	In A Relationship
Co-related terms.	reserved, dedicated, preserved, trustworthy, fixed, honest etc.	to be in a relationship with, permanent relation, temporary relationship
They are	informal terms to represent the relationships	informal or declarative terms to represent the relation
Physical involvement	May involve	May involve
At a time	Here, at a time an individual is fixed with someone.	There can be more than one relationship
Trust factor	Plays a prime role	Plays a prime role here too
Famous status	in a ‘committed’ relationship with…	‘in a relationship’