romance

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An intimate relationship between two people; a love affair.
  2. A strong obsession or attachment for something or someone.
  3. Idealized love which is pure or beautiful.
  4. A story, novel, film, etc., centred around an idealized love relationship.
  5. A story relating to chivalry; a story involving knights, heroes, adventures, quests, etc.
  6. A tale of high adventure.
  7. A mysterious, exciting, or fascinating quality.
  8. A literary or filmic genre about idealized love.
  9. An embellished account of something; an idealized lie.
  10. An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances.
  11. A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real.
  12. A sentimental piece of music; a romanza.
verb
  1. To woo; to court.
  2. To write or tell romantic stories, poetry, letters, etc.
  3. To talk extravagantly and imaginatively; to build castles in the air.
noun
  1. The group of languages and cultures which are derived from Vulgar Latin.
adj
  1. Of or dealing with languages or cultures derived from Roman influence and Latin: French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Romanian, Catalan, Occitan, etc.

Pronunciation

/rə(ʊ)ˈman(t)s/ /ˈrəʊman(t)s/ /roʊˈmæn(t)s/ /ˈroʊˌmæn(t)s/ en-us-romance.ogg /roˈmæns/ [roː.mæːns] /rɵˈmæns/ /ˈroˌmæns/

Word forms

romance romances romancing romanced

Etymology

From Middle English romauns, roumance, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French romanz, romans (the vernacular language of France, as opposed to Latin), from Medieval Latin rōmānicē, Vulgar Latin rōmānicē (“in the Roman language”, adverb), from Latin rōmānicus (“roman”, adjective) from rōmānus (“a Roman”). Doublet of Romansch.

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