If a guy is your boyfriend, he will make a real effort to be with you. Even if he has a busy schedule, he’ll come pick you up, plan out date nights and take an active and ongoing interest in your life. He’ll want to be around you and go out of his way to make that happen.
A boyfriend is a regular male companion in a romantic and/or sexual relationship. This is normally not in long-term committed relationships.
If someone is in a relationship, they introduce their significant other as their boyfriend or girlfriend while others who are not, introduce their partners as ‘someone they’re dating’. There is a stark difference between dating and being in a relationship. While both are directionally similar, they have subtle signs that make for two very different aspects of being with someone.