romance means of or dealing with languages or cultures derived from Roman influence and Latin: French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Romanian, Catalan, Occitan, etc. It carries an Arena rating of 1814, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, romance ranks #73 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #260 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,362 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #1,404 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
romance is pronounced /rə(ʊ)ˈman(t)s/.
Why “romance” is a great word
Pertaining to languages and cultures descended from Latin, an idealized narrative of adventure, or the act of impassioned courtship. Its etymology traces from Old French *romanz* (vernacular language of France), from Late Latin *rōmānicē* (in the Roman manner), from Latin *rōmānicus* (Roman), from *rōmānus* (Roman) + *-icus* (adjectival suffix); extended in the 17th century to languages from Latin. Unlike "platonic," which denotes a bond purged of erotic passion, or "solicit," which implies a formal, transactional petition, romance is fundamentally a project of yearning idealization. It is the gulf between the crude stone of a Provençal ruin and the troubadour's song that extols it, the worn vellum of a chivalric tale read by firelight, and the fragile architecture of a compliment offered not to flatter but to transform—the grand, human translation of history and the mundane into a more beautiful and perilous story.
Etymology
From Old French romanz (“vernacular language (of France)”), from Late Latin rōmānicē, from Latin rōmānicus < rōmānus + -icus. Extended in the 17th century to all languages derived from Latin.
adj
- Of or dealing with languages or cultures derived from Roman influence and Latin: French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Romanian, Catalan, Occitan, etc.e.g.“In this paper we will concentrate on the problem posed by Iberian Romance languages (i.e. Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish), …” — Eulàlia Bonet and Joan Mascaró, On the representation of contrasting rhotics, in: 1997, Fernando Martínez-Gil, Alfonso Morales-Front (eds.), Issues in the Phonology and Morphology of the Major Iberian
noun
- An intimate relationship between two people; a love affair.e.g.“Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a new romance.” — 1981, Paul Dean, Matt Frenette, Mike Reno, “Working for the Weekend”, in Get Lucky, performed by Loverboy:
- A strong obsession or attachment for something or someone.
- Idealized love which is pure or beautiful.
- A story, novel, film, etc., centred around an idealized love relationship.
- A story relating to chivalry; a story involving knights, heroes, adventures, quests, etc.
- A tale of high adventure.
- A mysterious, exciting, or fascinating quality.e.g.“the romance of cruising down the Nile.”
- A literary or filmic genre about idealized love.
- An embellished account of something; an idealized lie.
- An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances.e.g.“His life was a romance.”
- A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real.e.g.“She was so full of romance she would forget what she was supposed to be doing.”
- A sentimental piece of music; a romanza.
- The group of languages and cultures which are derived from Vulgar Latin.
verb
- To woo; to court.
- To write or tell romantic stories, poetry, letters, etc.
- To talk extravagantly and imaginatively; to build castles in the air.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- romantic 63% match — 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. vs romance →
- romanic 62% match — Of or relating to Rome or its people, especially Ancient Rome. vs romance →
- romanes 62% match — Romani, the language of the Gypsies vs romance →
- romanicist 61% match — A person who studies or teaches Romance languages and/or literature. vs romance →
- roman 58% match — Upright, as opposed to italic. vs romance →
- romanaccio 57% match — Synonym of Romanesco (“dialect spoken in Rome”). vs romance →
- latin 56% match — Of or relating to Latin: the language spoken in ancient Rome and other cities of Latium. vs romance →
- romaunt 55% match — A romantic story told in verse; a romance. vs romance →