romantic
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
About an idealised form of love.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rohmantikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹoʊˈmæntɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Pertaining to an idealised form of love (originally, as might be felt by the heroes of a romance); conducive to romance; loving, affectionate.
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.
Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person).
Belonging to or characteristic of Romanticism or the Romantic Movement in the arts
Experiencing romantic attraction.
Of or pertaining to Romanticism.
noun
A person who is behaving romantically (in a manner befitting someone who feels an idealized form of love).
A person with romantic character (a character like those of the knights in a mythic romance).
An artist of the Romantic Movement or someone influenced by Romanticism
An artist involved in the Romantic movement.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: 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.
Used this way, romantic is a reasonably familiar word that can pull warm or cold depending on the sentence. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Mixed
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sentimental and reflective
- Usage feel
- Reflective and slightly elevated
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
The same wording can read approvingly or critically, so the surrounding sentence has to make the intent clear.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use romantic
- “They enjoyed a romantic dinner by candlelight to celebrate their anniversary.”
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The first coherent school of American art.
A movement in literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Impractical romantic ideals and attitudes.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: pertaining to an idealised form of love (originally
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “romantic” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.