Romance \Ro*mance"\, n. [OE. romance, romant, romaunt, OF.
romanz, romans, romant, roman, F. roman, romance, fr. LL.
Romanice in the Roman language, in the vulgar tongue, i. e.,
in the vulgar language which sprang from Latin, the language
of the Romans, and hence applied to fictitious compositions
written in this vulgar tongue; fr. L. Romanicus Roman, fr.
Romanus. See Roman, and cf. Romanic, Romaunt,
Romansch, Romanza.]
1. A species of fictitious writing, originally composed in
meter in the Romance dialects, and afterward in prose,
such as the tales of the court of Arthur, and of Amadis of
Gaul; hence, any fictitious and wonderful tale; a sort of
novel, especially one which treats of surprising
adventures usually befalling a hero or a heroine; a tale
of extravagant adventures, of love, and the like.
"Romances that been royal." --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
Upon these three columns -- chivalry, gallantry, and
religion -- repose the fictions of the Middle Ages,
especially those known as romances. These, such as
we now know them, and such as display the
characteristics above mentioned, were originally
metrical, and chiefly written by nations of the
north of France. --Hallam.
[1913 Webster]
2. An adventure, or series of extraordinary events,
resembling those narrated in romances; as, his courtship,
or his life, was a romance.
[1913 Webster]
3. A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to
ignore what is real; as, a girl full of romance.
[1913 Webster]
4. The languages, or rather the several dialects, which were
originally forms of popular or vulgar Latin, and have now
developed into Italian. Spanish, French, etc. (called the
Romanic languages).
[1913 Webster]
5. (Mus.) A short lyric tale set to music; a song or short
instrumental piece in ballad style; a romanza.
[1913 Webster]
6. a love affair, esp. one in which the lovers display their
deep affection openly, by romantic gestures.
[PJC]
Syn: Fable; novel; fiction; tale.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Romance \Ro*mance"\, a.
Of or pertaining to the language or dialects known as
Romance.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Romance \Ro*mance"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Romanced; p. pr. &
vb. n. Romancing.]
To write or tell romances; to indulge in extravagant stories.
[1913 Webster]
A very brave officer, but apt to romance. --Walpole.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Romance
adj : relating to languages derived from Latin; "Romance
languages" [syn: Latin]
n 1: a relationship between two lovers [syn: love affair]
2: an exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or
adventure) [syn: romanticism]
3: the group of languages derived from Latin [syn: Romance
language, Latinian language]
4: a story dealing with love [syn: love story]
5: a novel dealing with idealized events remote from everyday
life
v 1: make amorous advances towards; "John is courting Mary" [syn:
woo, court, solicit]
2: have a love affair with
3: talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions; "The
guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My
husband never flirts with other women" [syn: chat up, flirt,
dally, butterfly, coquet, coquette, philander,
mash]
4: tell romantic or exaggerated lies; "This author romanced his
trip to an exotic country"
WordNet (r) 2.0
177 Moby Thesaurus words for "romance":
Marchen, Western, Western story, Westerner, adulterous affair,
adultery, adventure, adventure story, affair, allegorize, allegory,
amor, amour, apologue, apparition, autism, autistic thinking,
balderdash, bedtime story, brainchild, brown-nose, bubble,
butter up, canard, capriccio, caprice, chimera, color,
colorfulness, concoction, court, cuckoldry, dalliance, delirium,
dereism, dereistic thinking, detective story, divertissement,
dreamery, eidolon, entanglement, epic, eternal triangle,
exaggeration, excitement, extravaganza, fable, fabliau,
fabrication, fabulize, fairy tale, fancy, fantasia, fantasque,
fantasy, fascination, fib, fiction, fictionalize, figment, flatter,
flight of fancy, flirtation, folk story, folktale, forbidden love,
forgery, gest, ghost story, glamor, hallucination, hanky-panky,
horse opera, humoresque, ideal, idealism, ideality, idealization,
idealize, idle fancy, idyll, illicit love, illusion, imagery,
imagination, imaginative exercise, imaginativeness, imagining,
impracticality, infidelity, insubstantial image, intrigue,
invention, legend, liaison, love, love affair, love story, maggot,
make-believe, medley, melodrama, mystery, mystery story, myth,
mythicize, mythify, mythologize, mythology, mythos, narrate,
narrative, nonsense, nostalgia, novel, novelize, nursery tale,
pander to, parable, phantasm, phantom, play of fancy, potpourri,
prevarication, quixotism, quixotize, quixotry, recite, recount,
rehearse, relate, relationship, report, retell, rhapsodize,
romantic tie, romanticism, romanticize, romanza, science fiction,
sentiment, shocker, sick fancy, soft-soap, space fiction,
space opera, storify, story, suspense story, tall story, tall tale,
tell, tell a story, thick-coming fancies, thriller, triangle, trip,
unfaithfulness, unfold a tale, unpracticalness, unrealism,
unreality, utopianism, utopianize, vapor, vision, visionariness,
whim, whimsy, white lie, whodunit, wildest dreams,
wish fulfillment, wish-fulfillment fantasy, wishful thinking, woo,
work of fiction
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
ROMANCE, n. Fiction that owes no allegiance to the God of Things as
They Are. In the novel the writer's thought is tethered to
probability, as a domestic horse to the hitching-post, but in romance
it ranges at will over the entire region of the imagination -- free,
lawless, immune to bit and rein. Your novelist is a poor creature, as
Carlyle might say -- a mere reporter. He may invent his characters
and plot, but he must not imagine anything taking place that might not
occur, albeit his entire narrative is candidly a lie. Why he imposes
this hard condition on himself, and "drags at each remove a
lengthening chain" of his own forging he can explain in ten thick
volumes without illuminating by so much as a candle's ray the black
profound of his own ignorance of the matter. There are great novels,
for great writers have "laid waste their powers" to write them, but it
remains true that far and away the most fascinating fiction that we
have is "The Thousand and One Nights."
THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)
Romance, AR
Zip code(s): 72136
Romance, WV
Zip code(s): 25248
U.S. Gazetteer (1990)
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