aromantic

(2005) From a- +‎ romantic. Compare asexual. First coined in 2005 in Asexual Visibility and Education Network forums.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˌeɪ.ɹəʊˈman.tɪk/, /ˌæ.ɹəʊˈman.tɪk/, /ˌɛ(ə)ɹ.əʊˈman.tɪk/

aromantic (comparative more aromantic, superlative most aromantic)

1. That feels little or no romantic attraction to others and/or romantic desire. [from 21st c.]
   • 2011 November 28, Soojin Chang, “Sex is the biggest nothing”, in The Daily Californian:

     Although there are aromantic asexuals who do not experience the instinctual emotional need to be in a romantic relationship, many asexuals seek monogamous partners and value intimate connections just like sexual people.

   • 2012, Anthony F. Bogaert, Understanding Asexuality‎^[1], Rowman & Littlefield, published 2012, →ISBN:

     However, if she [Emily Brontë] was asexual, she likely was not aromantic (see chapter 2 for distinction between sex and romance), or at least she had a high-level understanding of romance, as she wrote one of the most intensely romantic novels of her time, Wuthering Heights.

   • 2012 November, anonymous author, “Pandora's box: The stigmas surrounding aromanticism”, in The Scripps Voice, volume 16, number 4,1, Scripps College, page 5:

     No, just because I’m aromantic does not automatically mean I am also asexual (I happen to really like sex).

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:aromantic.

aromantic (plural aromantics)

1. One who does not experience romantic attraction to others.
   • 1986, Wanda Urbanska, The Singular Generation, Doubleday & Company, published 1986, →ISBN, page 86:

     Ours is a generation of aromantics, jaded about matters of the heart — often before gaining firsthand experience.

   • 2012, Marina Hale, "The Drop-Down Menu Identity Crisis", Glass Buffalo (University of Alberta), Spring 2012, page 51:

     Anna is an asexual, aromantic. Before discovering those terms, she assumed herself to merely be unusually disinterested in sex or relationships.

   • 2012 November 12, Olivia Gordon, “'The moment I realised I was asexual'”, in The Telegraph:

     'I let it slip one time at work that I’m an asexual aromantic [an asexual who is also not interested in making romantic attachments], and they think it’s absolutely hysterical,’ says Jean Wilson, a sales assistant and 63-year-old grandmother from Banbury. 'One of the women I work with said, “I don’t think you’ve met the right man yet.” I said: “Trish, I’m 63. If I haven’t met him by now I don’t think I’m going to.”’

   Synonym: aro (informal)

   Antonym: alloromantic

• aro (slang)

• aromanticism
• aro
• aro-ace

• (romantic orientations) romantic orientation; aromantic (-ism), biromantic (-ism), demiromantic (-ism), heteroromantic (-ism), homoromantic (-ism), panromantic (-ism), transromantic ^{(Category: en:Romantic orientations)}
• asexual
• amatonormativity

• manticora, marcation