Women warned over getting 'zombied' as worrying dating trend takes over Gen Z

As we all know, the dating scene can be chaotic at the best of times and a total minefield at the worst.

And to makes matters even worse, there's now a pretty extensive 'dating dictionary' of terms we need to add to our lingo when discussing all things romance.

Now, we already know all about the dreaded 'Ben stage', 'Tinder-dona' and 'pebbling', but what on earth does getting 'zombied' mean and why is the dating trend taking over Gen Z.

Beware of getting 'zombied' (Tom Werner / Getty Images)

Beware of this, reader, as getting 'zombied' is far worse than getting 'ghosted'.

Whether we've naughtily done it ourselves or sadly been victims of it - it's clear that many of us know exactly what 'ghosting' is.

But, there's now a far more eerie phenomenon to deal with when it comes to the modern world of dating.

Now, if you're one of the lucky few who has never come across the term 'ghosting' before then - first of all - good for you.

However, in case you've been living under a rock all this time, 'ghosting' refers to someone halting all communication and contact with another person without any given warning or justification as well as ignoring any further attempts to communicate.

While some may refer to the bizarre ordeal in different ways - 'blanking', 'airing', 'ignoring', the list sadly goes on - we can all agree it's a big old faff no matter what end you're on.

But, strap yourselves in, as it's about to get a whole lot worse.

Getting 'zombied' is far worse than getting 'ghosted' (Marc Mateos / Getty Images)

Singer-songwriter Mariel Darling took to TikTok to warn her 256k followers that getting 'zombied' is even worse than getting the ghouly treatment.

In short, she explained that these walking red flags have transformed into flesh-eating corpses who reanimate from the graveyard of failed romances to revisit their past flames from the dead.

"Zombied is the new ghosting," the overlay text of the video read.

Mariel revealed: "Girl, you’re being ghosted? I'm being out here being zombied."

The TikToker went on to give her own definition to the lived experience.

"It’s like ghosting, but he comes back from the dead after a couple months and hits you up," she explained.

A pretty accurate description of what getting 'zombied' feels like (Oleg Breslavtsev / Getty Images)

The video went on to receive 1.8 million views alongside an avalanche of comments from people who definitely shared her pain.

One TikTok user commented: "Mine has a Jesus Christ complex, he comes back every three days."

Another wrote: "I saw someone say she puts gravestone emojis on their name in contacts so she knows not to deal with them anymore."

Good tip.

"Tell me why this happened to me three times in the last three weeks," penned a third while a fourth echoed: "It happens to me all the time."

Another TikTok user pointed out: "Have you ever noticed that they all zombie you at the same time? Like why are four guys from my past all hitting me up on the same day???"

Get the apocalypse gear out, gals!