romanticadj.n.
/rə(ʊ)ˈmantɪk/, U.S. /roʊˈmæn(t)ɪk/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of a narrative, work of fiction, etc.: having the nature or qualities of a romance (romance n. 1, 3a) as regards form or content. Of an author: that writes romances; tending to write in the manner of a romance.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > romance > [adjective]
romance1631
romantic1650
romancical1655
romanceful1821
1650 T. Bayly (title) Herba parietis... Being a history which is partly true, partly romantick, morally divine.
1658 tr. S. de Cyrano de Bergerac Satyrical Characters xxi. 80 The Romanticke Authors [Fr. Autheurs Romanesques] that you are acquainted withall, do oftentimes give Empires to those that perhaps before enjoyed not two Acres of Ground.
1703 J. Browne Mod. Pract. Physick Vindicated 1 The Rhapsodical Harangues of this Dispensarian, who oftentimes assumes the Air and Stile of a Romantick Writer, rather than that of a Serious Physician.
1740 J. Oldmixon Nixon's Cheshire Prophecy (ed. 10) 8 This Account, as Whimsical and Romantic as it is, was told to the Lady Cowper..by Dr. Patrick.
1777 J. Richardson Dict. Persian, Arabic & Eng. I. Dissert. p. xxix Romantic Fiction has long been considered as of Eastern origin.
1829 W. Scott Waverley Novels (new ed.) I. Gen. Pref. p. xvi It was a step in my advance towards romantic composition.
1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages II. 38 Nothing can be more erroneous than the attempt to trace the origin of romantic literature to one particular source.
1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. ii. 9 The romantic narrative of which Geoffrey of Monmouth is the chief spokesman.
1921 L. Pound Poet. Origins & Ballad ii. 42 The name ‘ballad’ was not applied specifically to heroic or romantic narrative songs until the eighteenth century.
1934 Tablet 14 July 45/1 A fine romantic tale of Cornwall in the days when the strange people of that strange outland were in the throes of ranting Methodism.
1992 C. Edelman Brawl Ridiculous ix. 151 Challenges between one who has slandered a lady and the lady's disguised defender are ubiquitous in romantic literature.
b. Of language, style, etc.: suitable for a romance; esp. overblown, euphuistic, flowery. Now rare.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective]
overwrittenOE
flourished1303
orne?a1425
ornatea1450
purpuratec1475
gallant1484
flourishinga1552
gorgeous1561
coloured1571
flowerya1616
ornated1630
flosculent1646
luscious1651
chromatic1652
romantic1653
gaudy1655
florid1656
blooming1685
bloomy1685
dressy1713
colouring1807
colorific1812
emblazoned1813
embroidered1868
purple1941
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective] > euphuistic or precious
quaintc1395
fine1576
romantic1653
precious1712
précieuse1785
tortuous1801
euphuistical1823
euphuistic1828
précieux1891
1653 J. Davies in tr. C. Sorel Extravagant Shepherd To Rdr. sig. b2 Let alone that cold water, sayes he, here's warm comes out of my eyes. This indeed was a little Romantick.
a1668 W. Davenant Man's the Master (1669) ii. 14 Lucill. Sir, let me imbrace your knees, and not rise from mine till I obtain that succour which I hope you will afford me. Ferd. This stile is somewhat Romantick.
1692 ‘J. Curate’ Sc. Presbyterian Eloquence 24 All that is said for this, is, that it is a Romantick Stile proper to the Monks.
1710 N. Taubman Mem. Brit. Fleets & Squadrons in Mediteranean 181 All appearing like Gentlemen are saluted Illustrissimos and Excellentissimos..Natives of ordinary Circumstances address each other in the same Romantick Stile.
1733 D. Neal Hist. Puritans II. x. 424 [He] commends the Bishops.., and he advances them, in romantick language, to the Rank of Heroes.
1794 T. Maurice Indian Antiq. II. vi. 269 However mysterious the allegory, and however wild and romantic the language in which it is clothed, this fact may be depended upon.
1823 T. Ross tr. F. Bouterwek Hist. Spanish & Portuguese Lit. I. ii. i. 251 A considerable series of Horace's odes in the same romantic syllabic measure which he chose for his own odes.
1867 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) Oct. 649 We..received an answer which, being translated into the romantic style of Mr. Mitchell's novel, would run somewhat as follows.
1917 C. Thomas Goethe 75 The wish to try his hand on the stricter form of the romantic eight-line stanza.
2. † a. That is told of in romances; fabled. Also: characteristic of or befitting a romance; of a kind that may be found in romances. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1653 J. Davies in tr. C. Sorel Extravagant Shepherd Transl. to Rdr. sig. d As for Lysis's carrying away of his Mistress, 'tis an ordinary Romantic humour.
1653 J. Davies in tr. C. Sorel Extravagant Shepherd Transl. to Rdr. sig. d v That marrying all of a day Clarimond needed not so much to have laugh'd at: for your Romantick Shepherds being all Beggars, such a thing might happen.
a1658 R. Lovelace Lucasta: Posthume Poems (1659) 8 He..Acts the Romantick Phœnix fate.
1700 N. Rowe Ambitious Step-mother ii. i How great a good by me sincerely offer'd Thy dull Romantick Honour has refus'd.
1730 A. Gordon tr. F. S. Maffei Compl. Hist. Anc. Amphitheatres i. xv. 179 In foolish Fables and imaginary Records, we have an account of Battles fought by Lancellotto da Lago, and other romantic Heroes.
b. Of a statement, story, character, etc.: fictitious, invented; having no foundation in fact. Formerly also: †(of a thing) having no real existence, imaginary (obsolete). Now rare.
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the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > a false or foolish tale > [adjective]
fabulous1555
legendary1570
poetic1610
mythological1614
romantic1654
mythologic1664
legendous1686
fabular1690
1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana iii. xvi. 399 The light of Navigation hath long since discovered this story to be as highly Romantique, as the Enchanted Castles of our Knights Errant.
1660 N. Ingelo Bentivolio & Urania Pref. sig. C2v How are they taken with pleasure and sorrow for the good and bad success of the Romantick Lovers?
1668 P. M. Myst. & Miracles Love iv. 55 in W. Charleton Ephesian & Cimmerian Matrons Lucian's Panthea..likewise, it is probable, was no other than an Imaginary or Romantique Lady, made up of all the rare idea's of Beauty..whereof humane nature is capable.
1690 T. Burnet Theory of Earth iv. 171 We must not imagine that the prophets..feigned an idea of a romantick state, that never was nor ever will be.
1707 G. Hickes Two Treat. Pref. p. cxxxix He must give them Priests without Human Infirmities, if I may say it, Romantick Priests.
1728 J. Morgan Hist. Barbary Epitomiz'd in Compl. Hist. Algiers I. 62 Nicephorus relates that..S. Peter preached the Gospel in Mauritania: But this is looked upon to be intirely romantick.
1824 T. F. Dibdin Libr. Compan. 672 The notion of an early-printed edition of the Canterbury Tales, by Wynkyn de Worde, is purely romantic.
1862 W. P. Dickson tr. T. Mommsen Hist. Rome I. ii. vii. 395 The entirely romantic details of the account, which represents the Romans..as delivering to Alexander a chaplet of gold.
1905 Everybody's Mag. Mar. 423/1 Reading the captain's story, subsequently shown to be romantic, Mr. J. D. Hague was stirred to [etc.].
3.
a. Of an idea, plan, etc.: fantastic, extravagant, quixotic; going beyond what is customary or practical. Of a person, personality, etc.: given to or characterized by such ideas; responsive to the promptings of imagination or fancy regardless of practicality.
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the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > [adjective] > to extravagant extent
utopical1574
utopian1588
romantic1659
utopic1850
supermundane1851
1659 J. Gauden Ἱερα Δακρυα iv. xx. 569 They come to that Romantick and Errant spirit, which thinks it as much gallantry to fight for their Religion, as some do for their Mistresses beauties.
1661 J. Evelyn in tr. G. Naudé Instr. conc. Erecting of Libr. sig. A4v That stupendious Idea..which, however lofty, and to appearance Romantic, has yet in it nothing of Impossible to be effected.
1671 Sir W. Thompson in C. J. Fèret Fulham (1900) I. 50 The romantic and visionary scheme of building a bridge over the river at Putney.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 39. ⁋42 There must be a Spice of Romantick Gallantry in the composition of that very Pretty Fellow.
1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade (ed. 2) 170 What is here represented, will be treated by some of our Planters, as Romantick.
1746 Rep. Conduct Sir J. Cope 50 Few crediting so ‘romantick’ an Enterprize.
1800 E. Hervey Mourtray Family II. 67 It is his intention equally to share his future inheritance with his brother. A most romantic idea.
1852 H. W. Herbert Cavaliers of Eng. i. ii. 185 I would I could see you more practically-minded; less given to these singular romantic dreamings.
1910 E. W. Champney Romance Imperial Rome iv. 250 This romantic scheme is impossible. Florus would kill you before you could embark.
1950 R. J. Dubos Louis Pasteur ii. 53 He had hoped that the mysteries of life and death would be revealed to him at the end of his journey. But, failing this romantic goal, there were still worth-while lands to discover and to conquer.
2004 M. W. Apple Ideology & Curriculum (ed. 3) x. 180 To assume that class relations have somehow gone away..is utterly romantic.
b. That gives free rein to the imagination; indulging in fancy or fantasy; fanciful; sentimental; idealistic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > [adjective]
romancial1653
romantical1662
romanical1665
romantic1755
Romanesque1763
1755 F. Brooke in Old Maid 15 Nov. 3 No one who is not as romantic as I then was, can imagine the joy I felt at being able to give my lover such a proof of the disinterestedness of my passion.
1778 F. Burney Evelina III. i. 8 I am not romantic,—I have not the least design of doing good to either of you.
1832 G. Downes Lett. from Continental Countries I. 37 The Wood of Boulogne is the favourite resort of the Parisian when he wishes to be romantic.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 199 To unhappy allies..he extended his protection with a romantic disinterestedness.
1862 Times 12 Apr. 9/4 Nor is the learned Society actuated by a purely romantic generosity.
1866 Times 11 Aug. 8/5 To do your neighbour solid, plain, simple good..is so very humdrum... How can persons be romantic about ‘Nuisances’? What gift of the imagination is elicited by ‘Sewers’?
1929 Enemy No. 3. 16 [They] presented themselves to their readers as good romantic american ‘radicals’, confronted with a deep-eyed conservative ‘Britisher’.
1998 D. Shefet-Vanson tr. S. Sofer Zionism & Found. Israeli Diplomacy iii. xi. 242 Begin's point of departure was pure romantic altruism, according to which rebels sacrifice themselves for the sake of the nation.
2007 New Yorker 8 Jan. 40/2 But when you try to be romantic about pro football its reality comes back: the snapping sound of Theismann's fibula, the nearly parodic corporatism that infects the game.
4. Characterized or marked by, or invested with, a sense of romance (romance n. 5a); arising from, suggestive of, or appealing to, an idealized, fantastic, or sentimental view of life or reality; atmospheric, evocative, glamorous.
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the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > effect produced on emotions > quality appealing to emotion or imagination > [adjective] > having emotional or romantic appeal
romance1631
romancy1653
romantic1666
1666 S. Pepys Diary 26 Feb. (1972) VII. 59 It [sc. Windsor Castle] is the most romantique castle that is in the world.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1654 (1955) III. 103 There is also on the side of this horrid Alp, a very romantic seate.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 142. ⁋2 A Man of Honour, not a Romantick Hero or a Whining Coxcomb.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. v. 337 An Island, which..may in all these views be justly stiled romantic.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. i. 6 The girl was..called Sophia; so that we had two romantic names in the family.
1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain i. xix. 43 Yet, e'en in that romantic age, Ne'er were such charms by mortal seen.
1854 J. Ruskin Lect. Archit. ii. 65 You feel that armour is romantic, because it is a beautiful dress, and you are not used to it.
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine (1858) 328 The grandest and most romantic character that Israel ever produced, Elijah the Tishbite.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §6. 407 The romantic daring of Drake's voyage..roused a general enthusiasm throughout England.
1917 R. Peixotto Romantic Calif. 268 This great bluff that skirts the sea is the most romantic spot upon the coast, and certainly it does make a striking impression.
1938 Sun (Baltimore) 19 July 8/3 His flight was harebrained and foolhardy... It was an unnecessary throwback to the romantic era of long-distance aviation.
1944 Daily Express 6 July 2/7 Why the Supremo?.. A handsome, romantic figure. Hence the Latin-sounding nickname.
1953 John o' London's Weekly 3 July 588/3 Conversion from a wild ruin to a preserved ancient monument has wrought the fundamental change of something romantic into something academic.
1996 Maclean's 18 Mar. 40/2 An untimely death can be a romantic fate to those who are suitably primed psychologically.
2007 A. Enright Gathering (2008) iii. 13 History is such a romantic place, with its jarveys and urchins and side-buttoned boots.
5.
a. Of love or friendship: of an idealized kind (originally spec. such as might be felt or demonstrated by the heroes of romance), esp. in being chivalrous, devoted, or selfless. Of a person: displaying such love or friendship. Later more generally: of or relating to (esp. idealized or sentimental) love. Cf. romance n. 5b.In later use esp. with reference to the emotional element of a relationship, in contrast to its physical or sexual aspects.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [adjective] > romantic or ideal
romantic1732
1732 J. Whaley Poems 93 Let giddy Youth the treach'rous Sallies prove, Of Feav'rish Transports, and Romantic Love.
1754 R. Berenger in World 4 July 474 I know several unmarried ladies, who in all probability had been..good wives and..mothers, if their imaginations had not been early perverted with the chimerical ideas of romantic love,..upon which principle, a footman may as well be the hero as his master.
1778 S. Tighe Let. 2 Apr. in G. H. Bell Hamwood Papers (1930) 27 There were no gentlemen concerned, nor does it appear to be anything more than a scheme of Romantic Friendship.
1806 Ld. Byron Fugitive Pieces 23 And friendships were form'd, too romantic to last.
1858 E. Bulwer-Lytton What will he do with It? (Tauchnitz ed.) III. vii. xiv. 347 (heading) Romantic Love pathologically regarded by Frank Vance and Alban Morley.
1866 C. M. Yonge Dove in Eagle's Nest II. ii. 41 Good substantial wedded affection was not lacking, but romantic love was thought an unnecessary preliminary, and found a vent in extravagant adoration not always in reputable quarters.
1921 W. J. Locke Mountebank viii. 96 The woman who could satisfy all his romantic imaginings was the Princesse Lointaine.
1942 T. Bailey Pink Camellia vii. 50 The lovemaking was of the purely romantic kind, for Cecily would have no other.
1971 E. Mavor Ladies of Llangollen v. 96 The strange ambivalence of the pre-Freudian romantic friendships.
1978 Morecambe Guardian 14 Mar. 17/2 Partnerships flourish. A romantic attachment is possible, but do not take it too seriously.
2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 17 Feb. ii. 12/2 Three guys..hire a female life coach to improve their romantic lives.
b. Of an occasion, activity, gesture, etc.: involving or characteristic of romance (romance n. 5b); conducive to feelings of romance.
ΚΠ
1845 Blackwood's Mag. July 113/2 The happy husband..would often serenade his lady-love (albeit his wedded love also) on some golden evening, as she sat..under the fine sycamore tree—the ‘trysting-place’ of their romantic assignations.
1857 Davenport (Iowa) Daily Gaz. 1 Aug. 3/3 Not a very romantic walk to invite the lady of my heart to share, but then the circumstances are peculiar.
1917 S. Lewis Job v. 71 Not till an enormous platter..was slammed down between them,..did Walter seem to remember that this was a romantic dinner with a strange girl, not a deal in food-supplies.
1948 Middlesboro (Kentucky) Daily News 28 Aug. 4/1 The average young married couple have mighty little to spend on romantic gestures.
1982 Jet Mag. 22 Feb. 4/1 I've learned that those kinds of niceties, such as breakfast in bed, romantic dinners, receiving flowers, etc., all make the marriage institution a longer lasting and more loving union.
2006 Brides Sept.–Oct. 100/2 A pre-nuptial agreement isn't the most romantic subject to raise when you're about to commit, heart and soul.
c. Of a person. Chiefly predicative.
(a) Demonstrating feelings of love and tenderness; given to (impulsive) acts of romanticism and affection; amorous, loving, affectionate.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > [adjective]
lovesomeOE
lovelyOE
amorousa1393
lovinga1450
lovingly1493
beloving1549
amorevolousa1670
romantic1866
amorist1882
1866 E. Yates Land at Last i. xiii. 45 A week a go I said to you, ‘Margaret, be my wife.’ It was not very romantically put, I confess; but I'm not a very romantic person.
1937 Chicago Tribune 11 Feb. 3/4 ‘He's so romantic,’ she smiled, ‘and so impractical. He wrote me sonnets instead of looking for a job.’
1956 Los Angeles Times 29 July iii. 31/6 The Englishman will take you to a theater, and occasionally a night club, but he's not romantic. He hesitates to ask for a good-night kiss.
1971 T. Morduch tr. W. Chorell in tr. C. E. Soya et al. Five Mod. Scand. Plays 147 I expect he's going to bring me some flowers. He is so very romantic.
1994 M. S. Weinberg et al. Dual Attraction (1995) i. viii. 83 Jane is very romantic and likes to be very romantic with the mood, lights, and everything perfect.
2009 G. Morris Sonnet to Dead Contessa xv. 198 You may not believe it, but your father was a very romantic man. He even learnt how to play a guitar and sing love songs to me.
(b) Desirous of or wanting love and romance. Later also: in the mood for sexual intercourse; sexually aroused; ‘turned on’. Chiefly in to feel (also get) romantic.
ΚΠ
1885 Belgravia June 433 [She was] pleased also to have a young man dancing attendance upon her... To-night..she felt romantic. She had been thinking..that it was a duty she owed to society to marry.
1895 ‘G. Mortimer’ Like Stars that Fell xvii. 241 He looked at her like a great faithful spaniel, and the caress of his thick hand suggested the coaxing pats of a dog's paw. It was impossible to feel romantic.
1904 M. Deland Common Way 66 Yes, the girls are first rate, dont you know; they're corking jolly to go off with; but..they aint the kind that's makin' a fellow feel romantic.
1935 Pop. Sci. Monthly Oct. 5/2 No use saying ‘stop!’ You are so fresh and sweet after your bath, a fellow can't help feeling romantic!
1977 L. J. Schwartz & W. Burton Nearlyweds ii. 51 (stage direct.) They get romantic and kiss.
1991 ‘N. Roberts’ Carnal Innoc. 82 If the two of you have to get romantic, you'll do it down in the family room.
2008 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 15 Mar. (Weekend section) 4 Romance, for instance. You could think about what makes each of you feel romantic.
d. Of a story, novel, film, etc.: having love or a love affair as its subject. Of a character, actor, etc.: featuring or starring in such a story, film, etc.; specializing or suited for such roles. Cf. romance n. 7.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [adjective] > types of novel
picaresque1822
Gothic1825
Minerva press1843
yellow1843
western1846
bluggy1876
cape and sword (also cape and cloak)1898
Mills & Boon1912
straight1936
blockbusting1943
Mills and Boony1946
private eye1946
police procedural1957
thrillerish1957
porno-Gothic1968
romantic1977
neo-noir1986
bonkbusting1993
1907 J. Briscoe Actors' Birthday Bk. 41 Robert T. Haines..most acceptably fills the requirements of the present-day romantic lead.
1926 E. Wallace Square Emerald xv We'll occupy the afternoon with a ‘flick’. I love the movies—especially the romantic ones.
1960 R. Rees For Love or Money ii. 30 The doctrine of D. H. Lawrence's Fantasia of the Unconscious: that sexual passion, unrelated to the religious impulse..leads to sterility and death—as in Anna Karenina, in Carmen, and in the greater part of European ‘romantic’ literature.
1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn i. 3 Unable to find what she needed in ‘romantic’ novels, Letty had turned to biographies of which there was no dearth.
1991 Film Comment Mar.–Apr. 17/2 Such great romantic stars as Irene Dunne and Margaret Sullavan.
2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 20 Jan. 32/7 Jonathan Demme remade the Stanley Donen romantic thriller Charade as a valentine to French movies.
6. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a style of dramatic production (now chiefly ballet) which makes use of legendary, exotic, or imaginary settings, typically to explore the conflict between man and nature or the supernatural. Now chiefly historical.Originally perhaps simply a contextual use of sense A. 1a; early examples may suggest no more than that the production in question is considered to share some of the attractive features (setting, excitement, etc.) of contemporary romances. With reference to ballet a narrower definition has been widely used, as applicable to works and styles prevalent during the second quarter of the 19th cent., in which the emphasis was predominantly on mood or atmosphere, and ballet technique was expanded, especially for female dancers.In later use often indistinguishable from sense A. 7.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > ballet > [adjective] > type of ballet
romantic1798
classical1909
1798 Times 9 Mar. 1/4 (advt.) This Day is published, The New, Grand, Romantic Romance of Blue Beard, as now performing..at the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane.
1801 Times 3 June 1/1 (advt.) Part of the present popular Performances must be unavoidably withdrawn..on account of an entire new Musical, Romantic, Magical Grand Ballet of Action, which has been a long time in preparation.
1804 Times 9 Apr. 6/1 After the Play will be presented a grand Serio-Comic Romantic Melo-Drama, called Valentine and Orson.
1807 Monthly Mirror June 403 I submitted to him a romantic opera, which I thought of offering to Covent-Garden.
1830 R. Barton tr. C. Blasis Code of Terpsichore (ed. 2) v. 419 (heading) Zara. A romantic ballet, in five acts.
1841 Times 12 Oct. 4/1 This evening will be presented a romantic burletta of witchcraft, in two acts, and a prologue, entitled Die Hexen am Rhein.
1911 Indianapolis Star 15 Jan. 29/4 The principal feature of the..program..is ‘Giselle’, a romantic fairy ballet in two acts.
1927 Theatre Arts 11 580 The romantic ballet and the spiritual impulse back of it found no adequate literary expression.
1957 G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 230 Romantic ballet, used, somewhat narrowly, to describe the ballets produced during the period of the Romantic revival in literature in the early nineteenth century, or roughly from 1830–1850, taking as their theme the odyssey of mortal man in love with some female spirit of the air or water or with some maiden risen from her tomb... The dividing line is a slender one, i.e. in the romantic ballet the accent is on colour or mood rather than form and design which is predominant in the classical ballet.
1959 F. Gadan et al. Dict. Mod. Ballet 329/1 Several other great Romantic dancers appeared as La Sylphide.
2009 Metro (Nexis) 8 May 39 Mikhail Fokine distilled the essence of Romantic ballet into an ethereal, plotless, gliding halfhour of floaty tulle skirts and pas de bourrées.
7. Frequently as Romantic. Designating, relating to, or characteristic of a movement or style during the late 18th and 19th centuries in Europe marked by an emphasis on feeling, individuality, and passion rather than classical form and order, and typically preferring grandeur, picturesqueness, or naturalness to finish and proportion. Generally opposed to classical (see classical adj. 7). See also neo-romantic adj., New Romantic adj., pre-Romantic adj., etc.
a. With reference to literature, art, etc.Originally applied to poetry (cf. sense A. 1a), following the use in an equivalent sense of German romantisch by Friedrich Schlegel (see quot. 1798) and others. Romantic is occasionally found contrasted with classical in earlier sources, but without the specific connotations of this sense. For a fuller discussion see H. Eichner ‘Romantic’ & its Cognates (1972).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > specific movement or period
classical1546
pastoral1566
classic1597
Medicean1652
romantic1812
tedesco1814
realistic1829
realista1832
pseudo-classic1833
classicist1838
pseudo-classical1838
renaissant1839
modernist1848
post-classic1850
post-classical1851
pseudo-Gothic1853
classicizing1865
classicistic1866
serio-grotesque1873
geometric1877
neoclassical1877
modernistic1878
neoclassic1878
pseudo-archaic1878
William Morris1883
protocorinthian1884
veristic1884
William and Mary1886
Yuan1888
romanticistic1889
veritistic1894
auto-destructive1895
pre-Romantic1895
Trajanic1906
neo-realistic1909
New Romantic1909
neo-realist1912
futuristic1915
postmodern1916
Dada1918
Dadaist1918
surrealist1918
proto-Romantic1920
expressionistic1921
modernista1924
super-realist1925
superrealistic1925
postmodernist1926
proto-Baroque1926
post-symbolist1927
pre-modernist1927
surrealistic1930
Renaissancist1932
Colonial Revival1934
neo-baroque1935
socialist-realist1935
social realist1949
social realistic1949
kitchen sink1954
William IV1955
formalistic1957
Zhdanovite1957
neo-Dadaist1960
neo-modernist1960
William Morrisy1960
neo-Dada1962
Zhdanovist1966
conceptual1969
conceptualist1973
po-mo1987
pathetic1990
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary world > [adjective] > literary movement, school, or theory
classic1743
classical1784
Alexandrian1803
romantic1812
realistic1829
realista1832
romanticist1831
symbolistic1864
symbolistical1864
neo-romantic1875
naturalistic1876
Alexandrine1877
neoclassical1877
veristic1884
impressionistic1886
impressionary1889
romanticistic1889
sensitivist1891
veritistic1894
Félibrian1908
symbolic1910
vorticist1914
Dada1918
Dadaist1918
surrealist1918
postmodernist1926
surrealistic1930
ultraist1931
socialist-realist1935
lettrist1947
social realist1949
social realistic1949
formalist1955
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > 17th century-mid 19th century > [adjective] > romanticism
romantic1812
1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry I. Diss. ii. sig. k4 Had classical taste and judgment been now established, imagination would have suffered, and too early a check would have been given to the beautiful extravagancies of romantic fabling.
1798 F. Schlegel in Athenaeum (Berlin) 1 ii. 28 Die romantische Poesie ist eine progressive Universalpoesie.]
1812 H. C. Robinson Jrnl. 19 May in E. J. Morley H. C. Robinson on Bks. (1938) I. 84 We proceeded to Coleridge's first lecture... He spoke of religion, the spirit of chivalry,..and a classification of poetry into ancient and romantic.
1813 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 206 The poetry of the Spanish peninsula seems to have been more romantic and less subject to classical bondage than that of any other part of Europe.
1820 Ld. Byron Ded. to Goethe 14 Oct. in Lett. & Jrnls. (1830) II. 358 I perceive that in Germany, as well as in Italy, there is a great struggle about what they call ‘Classical’ and ‘Romantic’.
1830 L. von Mühlenfels Introd. Course German Lit. 80 As the characteristics of modern or romantic art, I pointed out its tendency towards the infinite, its longing for the unearthly, [etc.].
1848 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy Past & Present II. 65 That new school of literature to which the vague denomination of Romantic had been generally applied.
1937 D. Bush Mythol. & Romantic Trad. in Eng. Poetry p. xiii The effect of both the romantic and the industrial movements was to make the artist, if not an anti-social figure, at any rate an isolated one.
1951 F. Kermode Romantic Image vii. 132 The next step forward in Romantic aesthetic depended upon a new theory of language.
1989 Lit. Rev. Aug. 41/2 In theory, avant gardism is romantic individualism taken to its extreme conclusion.
2008 New Yorker 6 Oct. 87/1 He borrowed the term ‘self-development’ from the German Romantic philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt.
b. With reference to music.Used esp. with reference to music composed in the second half of the 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [adjective] > style of composition
grandc1666
romantic1836
routinier1837
parodistic1845
rococo1868
virtuose1873
virtuosic1879
galant1884
polymorphous1890
monothematic1894
rococo1904
impressionistic1908
salon1914
gallant1925
athematic1935
non-thematic1946
minimalistic1947
stochastic1958
progressive1963
minimal1968
post-minimal1971
minimalist1977
1836 Musical Libr. Jan. Suppl. 30/1 When Carl Maria von Weber opened to himself a new path, by that work of genius, Der Freischutz, what is called romantic music was by several stamped as belonging to a peculiar school.
1838 Musical World 19 Jan. 38 The fourth [epoch of instrumental music], which has been styled the romantic, grew up from the forms of orchestral music.
1885 J. C. Fillmore Pianof. Music 80 In romantic music content is first and form subordinate.
1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 810/1 By the ‘Romantic School’ in music is meant the group of active spirits in that movement which began in Germany with Weber (born 1786)... Or it can be carried back as far as Schubert (born 1797) and Beethoven (born 1770).
1991 Music & Lett. 72 114 Hoffmann's observations on orchestration..anticipate a primary concern of Romantic music: ‘colour’ as a component of composition.
2007 Gramophone Feb. 13/3 Unlike the broad brushstrokes of Romantic opera, Baroque gives us stories with complex emotions and a lot going on.
B. n.† 1. A writer of romances. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > romance > [noun] > writer or composer of romance
romancer?a1400
romancealist1652
romancist1653
romantic1664
1664 W. Gordoun in J. Fullarton Turtle-dove sig. cv Vain Utopian stories, which Romanticks fain, Who busk Chymerick notions, which are not Else where, but in the fanciers brain begot.
2. A romantic feature, characteristic, etc.; (chiefly in plural) romantic behaviour or manner. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > effect produced on emotions > quality appealing to emotion or imagination > [noun] > feature or characteristic having
romantic1678
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > romance > [noun] > romantic feature
romantic1678
1678 V. Alsop Melius Inquirendum ii. vi. 269 Some Legendary Fabler, that has stufft a Farce with Romanticks.
1805 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (2002) II. 2515 Of country—Great Britain for me—none of your romantics!
1835 Ld. Abinger Let. 20 Aug. in P. C. Scarlett Mem. (1877) 163 I can..give you a place back to town in my great coach, by the romantics of Buxton, Bakewell, and Matlock.
1887 W. Black Sabina Zembra 221 There you are with your romantics again.
1908 Sewanee Rev. Jan. 117 The stirring novels and romances of Scott..have delighted the hearts of so many school-boys and girls. ‘I just love his romantics,’ exclaimed one of the latter.
1952 A. Koestler Arrow in Blue 184 I was twenty-three and had had my fill of the East—both of Arab romantics and Jewish mystique.
3. Frequently as Romantic.
a. An adherent or practitioner of Romanticism in literature, art, etc.; a Romanticist. Cf. New Romantic n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > artist > [noun] > artist of specific movement or period
mannerist1695
romanticist1821
trecentist1821
classicist1827
romantic1827
expressionist1850
classicalist1851
Gothicist1861
literalist1862
realist1868
modernist1879
verist1884
classic1885
symbolist1888
decadent1890
veritist1894
neoclassicist1899
neo-romantic1899
renaissancer1899
social realist1909
avant-garde1910
futurist1911
pasticheur1912
Bloomsbury1917
postmodern1917
pre-Romantic1918
Dadaist1919
German expressionist1920
super-realist1925
surrealist1925
New Romantic1930
brutalist1934
socialist-realist1935
avant-gardist1940
New Negro1953
neo-modernist1958
bricoleur1965
popster1965
sound artist1966
performance artist1975
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary world > [noun] > literary movements or theories > adherent of
modernist1703
symbolist1812
romanticist1821
classicist1827
romantic1827
symbolizer1854
archaist1867
realist1868
verist1884
naturalist1888
naturist1892
Teutonist1894
veritist1894
literary theorist1896
neoclassicist1899
social realist1909
futurist1911
postmodernist1914
vorticist1914
postmodern1917
Scythian1923
surrealist1925
populist1930
ultraist1931
socialist-realist1935
lettrist1946
New Negro1953
formalist1955
pre-modernist1962
Scyth1972
dirty realist1987
po-mo1996
1827 T. Carlyle in C. E. Norton Two Notebks. of T. Carlyle (1898) 111 Grossi..has written a new Epic... Grossi is a Romantic.
1865 Reader 3 June 619/1 This enthusiasm for enthusiasm..was natural to the whole race of romantics of that day.
1882 R. L. Stevenson in Longman's Mag. Nov. 77 Walter Scott is out and away the king of the romantics.
1927 R. H. Wilenski Mod. Movement in Art 30 Nineteenth-century romantics deliberately left out all the features which the admirers of classical painting were accustomed to regard as indispensable to art.
1960 A. O. Lovejoy in M. H. Abrams Eng. Romantic Poets 15 To be unsophisticated, to revert to the mental state of ‘simple Indian swains’, was the least of the ambitions of a German Romantic... The greatness of Shakespeare, in the eyes of these Romantics, lay in his Universalität.
1966 H. G. Schenk Mind of European Romantics i. 6 Rationalism was attacked by the Romantics not on the grounds that the intellectual results yielded by it were false, but rather on the grounds that they were inadequate.
2001 P. Ball Bright Earth xiv. 373 The idea of the sublime, so treasured by the nineteenth-century Romantics.
b. A composer of Romantic music.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > composing music > composer > [noun] > composer by type of music
fuguist1789
symphonist1789
melodist1826
threnodist1827
instrumentalist1838
melophonist1847
polyphonist1864
musical dramatist1866
operettist1867
tone poet1874
orchestrator1875
French Impressionist1876
monodist1888
romantic1892
neoclassicist1899
orchestralist1899
variationist1900
mensuralist1901
tone-painter1903
impressionist1908
pre-Romantic1918
phrase-maker1924
polytonalist1925
atonalist1929
dodecaphonist1953
serialist1954
twelve-toner1955
miniaturist1962
minimalist1969
tonalist1982
1892 Musical Times Sept. 523/1 The Romantics..are Weber, Meyerbeer, Spohr, Marschner, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, and Chopin.
1916 Musical Q. 2 94 We have lived through an epoch, which, beginning with the classical composers, led us to the Romantics, and which, with Schönberg as the last of the Romantics, is drawing to its close.
1961 C. Clutton in A. C. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages ii. 66 The [organ] works of Liszt and Franck,..and of such late romantics as Reger, Jongen, and Elgar, rely upon a very large instrument.
1992 Music Anal. 11 352 (note) The more ‘conservative’ Romantics such as Schumann, Brahms, and, above all, Verdi.
4. A romantic, sentimental, or idealistic person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > [noun] > person having
romancera1623
romantist1827
romantic1829
romanticist1831
1829 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 437/1 Thither now repair..unthrifty young men who have nearly broken their parents' hearts, misanthropes, alarmists, romantics, [etc.].
1886 Trans. New Shakspere Soc. 1880–6 544 Fenton and Anne Page..are in love, romantics, and not such jovial characters as the others.
1914 L. J. Vance Lone Wolf xvii. 204 The countenance of the stout Frenchman was lightened with a gleam of eager interest—inveterate romantic that he was!
1952 E. Anderson Plants, Man & Life iii. 45 Once he is in the field, the average taxonomist is an incurable romantic. Watch him take a group of students on a field trip.
1991 Observer 22 Sept. 2/4 High-profile Green Jonathan Porritt..bluntly told grassroots romantics to ‘grow up’.
2003 E. Noble Reading Group 248 Her imagination was always ready to flesh out the facts with a story cobbled together from a thousand made-for-television movies, bonkbuster novels and a romantic's heart.
Compounds
C1.
a. Complementary, as romantic-looking, romantic-seeming, etc., adjs.
ΚΠ
1789 E. Rigby Let. 2 July in Dr. Rigby's Lett. (1880) 4 I don't think they [sc. the cliffs] are higher or more romantic looking than those at Mundsley.
1829 Foreign Q. Rev. Aug. 399 Having reviewed this extraordinary and romantic-seeming army, the Duke of Guise never questioned but that he would be next day complete master of Naples.
1847 H. Melville Omoo lxxviii. 301 He was a sun-burnt, romantic-looking European.
1931 E. O'Neill Mourning becomes Electra i. i. 29 He's such a darned romantic-looking cuss. Looks more like a gambler or a poet than a ship captain.
1974 Backpacker Spring 333 Those romantic-sounding small backpacking specialty manufacturers such as Sierra Designs, Kelty, Gerry, Jan Sport, [etc.].
1995 Newsday (Nexis) 19 Feb. (Nassau & Suffolk ed.) a103 Pewter stands, decorated with French-braided ribbons for romantic-looking table centerpieces.
b. Parasynthetic, as romantic-scened, romantic-themed adjs.
ΚΠ
1828 Sporting Mag. 21 224 The hunting events of the romantic-scened county.
1994 Billboard (Nexis) 23 July 56 Future ‘Cinema Jazz’ releases will include a romantic-themed album.
C2.
romantic comedy n. (originally) a comedy having qualities associated with a literary romance (cf. sense A. 1a); (subsequently also) a film or other work with a light, comedic tone and a plot centring on a romantic relationship (often viewed in a sentimental or idealized way); this style or genre; cf. romcom n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > a comedy > other types of comedy
Old Comedy1529
New Comedy1542
comedy of errors?1595
romantic comedy1748
musical comedy1765
comédie larmoyante1773
sketch1789
serio-comedy1808
vaudeville1827
teacup-and-saucer comedy1842
satyr play1845
Restoration comedy1866
zarzuela1888
situation comedy1893
sex comedy1915
sitcom1956
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > other types
romantic comedy1748
epic1785
pre-release1871
foreign film1899
frivol1903
dramedy1905
film loop1906
first run1910
detective film1911
colour film1912
news film1912
topical1912
cinemicrograph1913
scenic1913
sport1913
newsreel1914
serial1914
sex comedy1915
war picture1915
telefilm1919
comic1920
true crime1923
art house1925
quickie1926
turkey1927
two-reeler1928
smellie1929
disaster film1930
musical1930
feelie1931
sticky1934
action comedy1936
quota quickie1936
re-release1936
screwball comedy1937
telemovie1937
pickup1939
video film1939
actioner1940
space opera1941
telepic1944
biopic1947
kinescope1949
TV movie1949
pièce noire1951
pièce rose1951
deepie1953
misterioso1953
film noir1956
policier1956
psychodrama1956
free film1958
prequel1958
co-production1959
glossy1960
sexploiter1960
sci-fier1961
tie-in1962
chanchada1963
romcom1963
wuxia1963
chick flick1964
showreel1964
mockumentary1965
sword-and-sandal1965
schlockbuster1966
mondo1967
peplum1968
thriller1968
whydunit1968
schlocker1969
buddy-buddy movie1972
buddy-buddy film1974
buddy film1974
science-fictioner1974
screwball1974
buddy movie1975
slasher movie1975
swashbuckler1975
filmi1976
triptych1976
autobiopic1977
Britcom1977
kidflick1977
noir1977
bodice-ripper1979
chopsocky1981
date movie1983
kaiju eiga1984
screener1986
neo-noir1987
indie1990
bromance2001
hack-and-slash2002
mumblecore2005
dark fantasy2007
hack-and-slay2007
gorefest2012
kidult-
1748 T. Nugent tr. J.-B. Dubos Crit. Refl. Poetry & Painting II. xxx. 299/2 They were accustomed for a long time to a coarse or Romantic comedy, which entertained them with low, or improbable adventures.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch III. v. l. 125 They looked like a couple dropped out of a romantic comedy.
1920 T. S. Eliot Sacred Wood 123 The poetic drama must have an emotional unity... The romantic comedy is a skilful concoction of inconsistent emotion.
1937 N.Y. Times 17 Apr. 15 (heading) It's a romantic comedy at the Roxy: By title ‘Love is Young’.
1991 Film Comment Mar.–Apr. 49/3 The conventions of romantic comedy have..grown yet more appealing with the passage of time.
2008 N.Y. Mag. 21 Apr. 116/1 Jason Segal delivers as the..lead of this raunchy romantic comedy..about a dumpee who flees to Hawaii, only to find his ex..staying at the same resort.
Romantic irony n. (also with lower-case initial in the first element) Literary Criticism an attitude of detached scepticism adopted by an author towards his or her work, typically manifesting in literary self-consciousness and self-reflection. [After German romantische Ironie (early 19th cent. or earlier). This conception of irony originated with the German Romantic writer and critic Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829).]
ΚΠ
1853 Brit. Q. Rev. Nov. 374 Respecting this romantic irony, as it is called, some assertions have been made which would appear only to proceed from misapprehension.
1908 P. E. More Shelburne Ess. 5th Ser. 119 Like Friedrich Schlegel, he indulges in the romantic irony of smiling down upon himself and walking through life like a Doppelgänger.
2010 Slavic Rev. 69 193 Among Kahn's collateral aims is to overturn conceptions of Pushkin as a poet of wild nature, strange attractions, fragmentary open structures, or undecidable Romantic irony.
Romantic Revival n. the resurgence of interest in the literature of earlier periods during the late 18th and early 19th centuries which gave rise to the Romantic movement.
ΚΠ
1862 G. W. Thornbury Life J. M. W. Turner I. v. 81 Hearne..executed the whole of the afore-mentioned drawings for the ‘Antiquities of Great Britain’, the first dawn of the modern Gothic and Romantic revival.
1866 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 515 That great intellectual movement in Europe, which may be termed the romantic revival or reaction,..began just a hundred years ago with the publication of Percy's Reliques.
1930 W. Empson Seven Types Ambiguity i. 27 Before the Romantic Revival the possibilities of not growing up had never been exploited so far as to become a subject for popular anxiety.
2004 M. Lauster in S. Bann Reception W. Pater in Europe viii. 185 The essay reads like the retrospective of a lonely survivor from the era of the Romantic revival.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
romanticv.
/rə(ʊ)ˈmantɪk/, U.S. /roʊˈmæn(t)ɪk/ rare.
intransitive and transitive = romanticize v. Also with up.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > render romantic [verb (transitive)]
romantic1926
Disneyfy1965
1926 Cosmopolitan Sept. 60/1 When a girl fell in love or thought she had, she went and got all mushed-up and sentimental; went mooning around sentimentalizing and rhapsodizing and romanticking and everything.
1969 G. Lyall Venus with Pistol xxii. 137 It was a fairly flat scene of somewhere in Venice, a bit romanticked up.
1972 Guardian 8 June 2/1 ‘Elizabeth R’ starts a new run if you like your history romanticked.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1650
v.1926