romantic
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹəʊˈmæntɪk/
ipa: /ɹə-/
enpr: rō-mănʹ(t)ĭk
ipa: /ɹoʊˈmæn(t)ɪk/
ipa: [ɹoʊˈmæntɪk]
ipa: [ɹə-]
ipa: [-mæɾ̃ɪk]
ipa: [-meə̯ntɪk]
ipa: [-meə̯ɾ̃ɪk]
rhymes: -æntɪk
Forms: form: more romantic
form: most romantic
form: romantick
Etymology: From romant + -ic, or borrowed from Late Latin romanticus (“(of a poem) having qualities of a romance”). Compare French romantique, which is borrowed from English. Also compare Spanish romántico, Portuguese romântico, Italian romantico, Dutch romantisch, and German romantisch and Romantiker (“a composer of Romantic music”), all of which are borrowed from English or French.
Senses: glosses: Of a work of literature, a writer etc.: being like or having the characteristics of a romance, or poetic tale of a mythic or quasi-historical time; fantastic.
glosses: Fictitious, imaginary.
examples: text: Mary sighed, knowing her ideals were far too romantic to work in reality.
text: R. Jeeves: In my experience, ladies who spell Gladys with a W are seldom noted for their reliability, sir. It gives them romantic notions.
B.W. Wooster: With a W, Jeeves? No, no, no, no. You spell it with a G.
R. Jeeves: If I might draw your attention to the signature on the portrait, sir.
B.W. Wooster: Good Lord! G-W?
R. Jeeves: I blame Alfred Lord Tennyson and his Idylls of the King. It also accounts for Kathryn, Ysabel, and Ethyl, all spelt with a Y, but Gwladys is a particularly virulent form, sir.
ref: 1993 May 16, “Return to New York”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 6:
glosses: Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person).
examples: text: But here is an artist. He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of the Saco.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 1, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
text: Somehow she wasn't a real sister, but that only made her the more romantic.
ref: 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
text: Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.
ref: 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
glosses: Having the qualities of romance (in the sense of something appealing deeply to the imagination); invoking on a powerfully sentimental idea of life; evocative, atmospheric.
examples: text: Their kiss started casually, but it slowly turned romantic.
text: Contrary to the popular perception that love typically sparks from passion, a new study finds two-thirds of romantic relationships begin as long-term friendships.
ref: 2021 July 20, Sarah Molano, “Most romantic relationships start as friendships, study finds”, in CNN:
antonyms: platonic
nonsexual
glosses: Pertaining to an idealised form of love (originally, as might be felt by the heroes of a romance); conducive to romance; loving, affectionate.
glosses: Alternative letter-case form of Romantic
examples: text: Elsewhere, I describe that, in addition to an asexual identity, another salient identity for asexual individuals may be a romantic or aromantic identity, which designates an interest (or lack thereof) in monogamous, intimate relationships (Scherrer, 2008).
ref: 2010, Kristin S. Scherrer, “Asexual Relationships: What Does Asexuality Have to Do with Polyamory?”, in Meg Barker, Darren Langdridge, editors, Understanding Non-Monogamies, New York, N.Y.; London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 154:
text: What is relatively “new” is the formation of communities around the common language of asexuality as it is understood today—communities in which new categories exist around the concept of asexuality or “being ace,” where people can discuss romantic or aromantic orientations in relation to or apart from sexual desires or non-desires.
ref: 2014, Karli June Cerankowski, Megan Milks, “Introduction: Why Asexuality? Why Now?”, in Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives (Routledge Research in Gender and Society), New York, N.Y.; London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2:
text: Grayromantic asexual people are between romantic and aromantic and less likely to experience romantic attraction compared to most people.
ref: 2019, Julie Xuemei Hu, Shondrah Tarrezz Nash, “Sexuality and Sexual Relationships throughout Life”, in Marriage and the Family: Mirror of a Diverse Global Society, Routledge, →ISBN:
synonyms: allo
alloromantic
antonyms: aromantic
glosses: Experiencing romantic attraction.
Derived terms: androromantic
aromantic
biromantic
bromantic
demiromantic
grayromantic
heteroromantic
homoromantic
hyperromantic
lithromantic
neo-Romantic
neo-romantic
overromantic
panromantic
polyromantic
postromantic
pseudoromantic
recipromantic
Romantic
romantically
romantic comedy
romantic friendship
romantic guitar
romanticise
romanticism
Romanticism
romanticist
romanticity
romanticization
romanticize
romanticly
romanticness
romantic orientation
romantic partner
romedy
semiromantic
sismantic
superromantic
technoromantic
ultraromantic
unromantic
womantic
WTFromantic