American romantic comedies have nothing to do with reality. As realistic as the beautiful people playing the leading roles being romantically unwanted.

There really is no "dating" part in America. You either go on dates or you are in a relationship. If anything, if you are "dating" someone it means you are seeing other people on other dates as well.

We really use the word "dates" to differentiate from interactions of platonic friendships. Still though this tends to be unspoken. It is not uncommon for one person to think they are on a "date" and one person to think they are just meeting as platonic friends.

This article I would imagine is saying 40% have had no romantic interaction with another person.