romance

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”, adj) from rōmānus (“a Roman”). Doublet of Romansch.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹoʊˈmæns/, /ˈɹoʊˌmæns/, enPR: rō-măns'
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈmæns/, /ˈɹəʊˌmæns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æns, -əʊmæns

Noun

romance (countable and uncountable, plural romances)

1. A story relating to chivalry; a story involving knights, heroes, adventures, quests, etc.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     `Will you undertake the task? We give you complete freedom, and as a reward you will, we believe, have the credit of presenting to the world the most wonderful history, as distinguished from romance, that its records can show.'

2. A tale of high adventure.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 152:

     Could one have known the past histories of some of the oddly-selected couples who shared everything in common, many a romance might have been written during what, to all outward appearances, was a dull and prosaic time to most lookers-on!

3. An intimate relationship between two people; a love affair.
4. A strong obsession or attachment for something or someone.
5. Idealized love which is pure or beautiful.
6. A mysterious, exciting, or fascinating quality.
7. A story or novel dealing with idealized love.
8. An embellished account of something; an idealized lie.
9. An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances.

   His life was a romance.

10. A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real.

    She was so full of romance she would forget what she was supposed to be doing.

11. (music) A romanza, or sentimental ballad.

Verb

romance (third-person singular simple present romances, present participle romancing, simple past and past participle romanced)

1. (transitive) To woo; to court.
   • 2015 November 15, Meghan Blythe Adams, “Renegade Sex: Compulsory Sexuality and Charmed Magic Circles in the Mass Effect series”, in Loading… The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association‎, volume 9, number 14, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 May 2018, page 47:

     A female Shepard can romance bisexual Yeoman Kelly Chambers, but doing so does not yield a Paramour achievement or an implied sex scene the way that romancing ‘official’ interests does. Similarly, the player can attempt to romance the Asari Samara or her Ardat-Yakshi daughter Morinth, but the former will refuse and sex with the latter will kill Shepard.

   • 2021 February 5, Nicholas Barber, “The Great Dictator: The film that dared to laugh at Hitler”, in BBC‎:

     In the ghetto, the gentle Barber romances a defiant washerwoman, Hannah, who is played by Chaplin's wife at the time, Paulette Goddard.

2. (intransitive) To write or tell romantic stories, poetry, letters, etc.
3. (intransitive) To talk extravagantly and imaginatively; to build castles in the air.

Anagrams

• Cameron, Canmore, Cremona, Marenco, Menorca

Etymology

Borrowed from French romance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌroːˈmɑn.sə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ro‧man‧ce
• Rhymes: -ɑnsə

Noun

romance f (plural romances or romancen)

1. (literature, music, historical) an emotional popular-historical epic ballad [from late 18th c.]
2. (literature, music) a sentimental love song or love story

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish romance, itself probably a borrowing from either Old French romanz or Old Occitan romans, meaning a narrative work in the vernacular speech, from Vulgar Latin *romanĭce (“in a Roman manner”), compare Medieval Latin rōmānice, ultimately from Latin rōmānicus. See also roman (“novel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɔ.mɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

romance f (plural romances)

1. a ballad; a love song
   • 1972, “Une belle histoire [A Beautiful Story]”, Pierre Delanoë (lyrics), Michel Fugain (music), performed by Michel Fugain and the Big Bazar:

     C’est un beau roman, c’est une belle histoire. C’est une romance d’aujourd’hui.

     It's beautiful tale, it's a beautiful story. It's a love song of today.

Verb

romance

1. inflection of romancer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “romance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Noun

romance (plural romances)

1. novel

Adjective

romance (comparative plus romance, superlative le plus romance)

1. Romance

Adjective

romance

1. feminine plural of romancio

Anagrams

• Cremona, Marenco, cremano, cronema, moncare

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan romans, from Medieval Latin, Vulgar Latin rōmānicē (“in a Roman manner”), from Latin rōmānicus (“Roman”, adjective), from rōmānus (“Roman”, noun), from Rōma (“Rome”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ro‧man‧ce

Noun

romance m (plural romances)

1. (literature) novel (work of prose fiction)
2. romance; love affair

   Synonym: caso

Adjective

romance m or f (plural romances, not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Romance (of the languages derived from Latin)

   Synonyms: neolatim, romanço, românico