Romantic

Romantic

Adjective / Noun · /rəʊˈmæntɪk/ · relating to love, idealism, or the Romantic artistic movement

Definition

Romantic describes something connected to love, deep feeling, or idealistic beauty — a romantic dinner, a romantic gesture, a romantic landscape. As a noun, a romantic is someone who is inclined toward love and sentiment. Romantic with a capital R refers specifically to the nineteenth-century cultural movement that elevated emotion, nature, and the individual imagination over reason and order. The word is simultaneously personal and historical, intimate and artistic.

Origin

From French romantique, which emerged in the seventeenth century to describe stories written in the vernacular Romance languages — tales of adventure, chivalry, and passion. These stories, called romans, were associated with idealised love and dramatic scenery. By the eighteenth century, romantic described landscapes and feelings that stirred the emotions. By the early nineteenth century, the Romantic movement had given the word its capital letter and its cultural weight.