Definition of Romantic Love
(noun) The strong emotional attachment between two or more people, typically used to describe people in a sexual relationship.
Romantic Love Pronunciation
Syllabification: ro·man·tic love
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /roh-mAn-tik lUHv/
- British English – /roh-mAn-tik lUHv/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /roʊˈmæntɪk lʌv/
- British English – /rəʊˈmæntɪk lʌv/
Usage Notes
- Plural: romantic loves
- Some definitions of romantic love are characterized by the lack of commitment in a relationship.
- William Goode (1917–2003) studied romantic love in “The Theoretical Importance of Love” (1959).
- Romantic love as a basis for marriage instead of custom or for economic and political reasons is called affective individualism. The idea was popularized in The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500–1800 (1977) by Lawrence Stone (1919–1999) and challenged by Alan Macfarlane (1941) in the Culture of Capitalism (1987).
- An aromantic lacks or has minimal romantic attraction, desire, or interest towards others.
- A derived term, bromance describes a close nonsexual friendship that exists between two men; usually activity-oriented.
- Also called:
- romance
- romantic attachment
Additional Information
- Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Sex and Gender Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “romantic” and “love” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Cite the Definition of Romantic Love
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “romantic love.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 30, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/romantic-love/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
romantic love. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/romantic-love/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “romantic love.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/romantic-love/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“romantic love.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 30 Sep. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/romantic-love/>.