Search Result for "romance": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (5)

1. a relationship between two lovers;
[syn: love affair, romance]

2. an exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or adventure);
[syn: romanticism, romance]

3. the group of languages derived from Latin;
[syn: Romance, Romance language, Latinian language]

4. a story dealing with love;
[syn: love story, romance]

5. a novel dealing with idealized events remote from everyday life;


VERB (4)

1. make amorous advances towards;
- Example: "John is courting Mary"
[syn: woo, court, romance, solicit]

2. have a love affair with;

3. talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions;
- Example: "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"
- Example: "My husband never flirts with other women"
[syn: chat up, flirt, dally, butterfly, coquet, coquette, romance, philander, mash]

4. tell romantic or exaggerated lies;
- Example: "This author romanced his trip to an exotic country"


ADJECTIVE (1)

1. relating to languages derived from Latin;
- Example: "Romance languages"
[syn: Romance, Latin]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Romance \Ro*mance"\, n. [OE. romance, romant, romaunt, OF. romanz, romans, romant, roman, F. roman, romance, fr. LL. Romanice in the Roman language, in the vulgar tongue, i. e., in the vulgar language which sprang from Latin, the language of the Romans, and hence applied to fictitious compositions written in this vulgar tongue; fr. L. Romanicus Roman, fr. Romanus. See Roman, and cf. Romanic, Romaunt, Romansch, Romanza.] 1. A species of fictitious writing, originally composed in meter in the Romance dialects, and afterward in prose, such as the tales of the court of Arthur, and of Amadis of Gaul; hence, any fictitious and wonderful tale; a sort of novel, especially one which treats of surprising adventures usually befalling a hero or a heroine; a tale of extravagant adventures, of love, and the like. "Romances that been royal." --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Upon these three columns -- chivalry, gallantry, and religion -- repose the fictions of the Middle Ages, especially those known as romances. These, such as we now know them, and such as display the characteristics above mentioned, were originally metrical, and chiefly written by nations of the north of France. --Hallam. [1913 Webster] 2. An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances; as, his courtship, or his life, was a romance. [1913 Webster] 3. A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real; as, a girl full of romance. [1913 Webster] 4. The languages, or rather the several dialects, which were originally forms of popular or vulgar Latin, and have now developed into Italian. Spanish, French, etc. (called the Romanic languages). [1913 Webster] 5. (Mus.) A short lyric tale set to music; a song or short instrumental piece in ballad style; a romanza. [1913 Webster] 6. a love affair, esp. one in which the lovers display their deep affection openly, by romantic gestures. [PJC] Syn: Fable; novel; fiction; tale. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Romance \Ro*mance"\, a. Of or pertaining to the language or dialects known as Romance. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Romance \Ro*mance"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Romanced; p. pr. & vb. n. Romancing.] To write or tell romances; to indulge in extravagant stories. [1913 Webster] A very brave officer, but apt to romance. --Walpole. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Romance adj 1: relating to languages derived from Latin; "Romance languages" [syn: Romance, Latin] n 1: a relationship between two lovers [syn: love affair, romance] 2: an exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or adventure) [syn: romanticism, romance] 3: the group of languages derived from Latin [syn: Romance, Romance language, Latinian language] 4: a story dealing with love [syn: love story, romance] 5: a novel dealing with idealized events remote from everyday life v 1: make amorous advances towards; "John is courting Mary" [syn: woo, court, romance, solicit] 2: have a love affair with 3: talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions; "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My husband never flirts with other women" [syn: chat up, flirt, dally, butterfly, coquet, coquette, romance, philander, mash] 4: tell romantic or exaggerated lies; "This author romanced his trip to an exotic country"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

177 Moby Thesaurus words for "romance": Marchen, Western, Western story, Westerner, adulterous affair, adultery, adventure, adventure story, affair, allegorize, allegory, amor, amour, apologue, apparition, autism, autistic thinking, balderdash, bedtime story, brainchild, brown-nose, bubble, butter up, canard, capriccio, caprice, chimera, color, colorfulness, concoction, court, cuckoldry, dalliance, delirium, dereism, dereistic thinking, detective story, divertissement, dreamery, eidolon, entanglement, epic, eternal triangle, exaggeration, excitement, extravaganza, fable, fabliau, fabrication, fabulize, fairy tale, fancy, fantasia, fantasque, fantasy, fascination, fib, fiction, fictionalize, figment, flatter, flight of fancy, flirtation, folk story, folktale, forbidden love, forgery, gest, ghost story, glamor, hallucination, hanky-panky, horse opera, humoresque, ideal, idealism, ideality, idealization, idealize, idle fancy, idyll, illicit love, illusion, imagery, imagination, imaginative exercise, imaginativeness, imagining, impracticality, infidelity, insubstantial image, intrigue, invention, legend, liaison, love, love affair, love story, maggot, make-believe, medley, melodrama, mystery, mystery story, myth, mythicize, mythify, mythologize, mythology, mythos, narrate, narrative, nonsense, nostalgia, novel, novelize, nursery tale, pander to, parable, phantasm, phantom, play of fancy, potpourri, prevarication, quixotism, quixotize, quixotry, recite, recount, rehearse, relate, relationship, report, retell, rhapsodize, romantic tie, romanticism, romanticize, romanza, science fiction, sentiment, shocker, sick fancy, soft-soap, space fiction, space opera, storify, story, suspense story, tall story, tall tale, tell, tell a story, thick-coming fancies, thriller, triangle, trip, unfaithfulness, unfold a tale, unpracticalness, unrealism, unreality, utopianism, utopianize, vapor, vision, visionariness, whim, whimsy, white lie, whodunit, wildest dreams, wish fulfillment, wish-fulfillment fantasy, wishful thinking, woo, work of fiction
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

ROMANCE, n. Fiction that owes no allegiance to the God of Things as They Are. In the novel the writer's thought is tethered to probability, as a domestic horse to the hitching-post, but in romance it ranges at will over the entire region of the imagination -- free, lawless, immune to bit and rein. Your novelist is a poor creature, as Carlyle might say -- a mere reporter. He may invent his characters and plot, but he must not imagine anything taking place that might not occur, albeit his entire narrative is candidly a lie. Why he imposes this hard condition on himself, and "drags at each remove a lengthening chain" of his own forging he can explain in ten thick volumes without illuminating by so much as a candle's ray the black profound of his own ignorance of the matter. There are great novels, for great writers have "laid waste their powers" to write them, but it remains true that far and away the most fascinating fiction that we have is "The Thousand and One Nights."