ro·mance (r-mns, rmns)
n.
1.
a. A love affair.
b. Ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people; love: They kept the romance alive in their marriage for 35 years.
c. A strong, sometimes short-lived attachment, fascination, or enthusiasm for something: a childhood romance with the sea.
2. A mysterious or fascinating quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful: "These fine old guns often have a romance clinging to them" (Richard Jeffries).
3.
a. A long medieval narrative in prose or verse that tells of the adventures and heroic exploits of chivalric heroes: an Arthurian romance.
b. A long fictitious tale of heroes and extraordinary or mysterious events, usually set in a distant time or place.
c. The class of literature constituted by such tales.
4.
a. An artistic work, such as a novel, story, or film, that deals with sexual love, especially in an idealized form.
b. The class or style of such works.
5. A fictitiously embellished account or explanation: We have been given speculation and romance instead of the facts.
6. Music A lyrical, tender, usually sentimental song or short instrumental piece.
7. Romance The Romance languages.
adj.
Romance Of, relating to, or being any of the languages that developed from Latin, including Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish.
v. (r-mns) ro·manced, ro·manc·ing, ro·manc·es
v.intr.
1. To invent, write, or tell romances.
2. To think or behave in a romantic manner.
v.tr. Informal
1. To make love to; court or woo.
2. To have a love affair with.
[Middle English, from Old French romans, romance, work written in French, from Vulgar Latin *rmnic (scrbere), (to write) in the vernacular, from Latin Rmnicus, Roman, from Rmnus; see Roman.]
ro·mancer n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
romance
n [rəˈmæns ˈrəʊmæns]
1. a love affair, esp an intense and happy but short-lived affair involving young people
2. love, esp romantic love idealized for its purity or beauty
3. a spirit of or inclination for adventure, excitement, or mystery
4. a mysterious, exciting, sentimental, or nostalgic quality, esp one associated with a place
5. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a narrative in verse or prose, written in a vernacular language in the Middle Ages, dealing with strange and exciting adventures of chivalrous heroes
6. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) any similar narrative work dealing with events and characters remote from ordinary life
7. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) the literary genre represented by works of these kinds
8. (Literature / Poetry) (in Spanish literature) a short narrative poem, usually an epic or historical ballad
9. a story, novel, film, etc., dealing with love, usually in an idealized or sentimental way
10. an extravagant, absurd, or fantastic account or explanation
11. (Music, other) a lyrical song or short instrumental composition having a simple melody
vb [rəˈmæns]
1. (intr) to tell, invent, or write extravagant or romantic fictions
2. (intr) to tell extravagant or improbable lies
3. (intr) to have romantic thoughts
4. (intr) (of a couple) to indulge in romantic behaviour
5. (tr) to be romantically involved with
[romauns, from Old French romans, ultimately from Latin Rōmānicus Roman]
romancer n
Romance [rəˈmæns ˈrəʊmæns]
adj
1. (Linguistics) denoting, relating to, or belonging to the languages derived from Latin, including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Romanian
2. (Linguistics) denoting a word borrowed from a Romance language there are many Romance words in English
n
(Linguistics) this group of languages; the living languages that belong to the Italic branch of the Indo-European family
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms R
