romance

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: Ro=mance

CIDE DICTIONARY

romance, 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.].

•  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.  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."  [1913 Webster]
•  An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances; as, his courtship, or his life, was a romance.  [1913 Webster]
•  A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real; as, a girl full of romance.  [1913 Webster]
•  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]
•  A short lyric tale set to music; a song or short instrumental piece in ballad style; a romanza.  [1913 Webster]
•  a love affair, esp. one in which the lovers display their deep affection openly, by romantic gestures.  [PJC]

Syn. -- Fable; novel; fiction; tale.

romance, a. 

 Of or pertaining to the language or dialects known as Romance.  [1913 Webster]

romance, v. i. 

 To write or tell romances; to indulge in extravagant stories.  [1913 Webster]
"A very brave officer, but apt to romance."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

romance, n., adj., & v.
--n. also disp.
1 an atmosphere or tendency characterized by a sense of remoteness from or idealization of everyday life.
2 a a prevailing sense of wonder or mystery surrounding the mutual attraction in a love affair. b sentimental or idealized love. c a love affair.
3 a a literary genre with romantic love or highly imaginative unrealistic episodes forming the central theme. b a work of this genre.
4 a medieval tale, usu. in verse, of some hero of chivalry, of the kind common in the Romance languages.
5 a exaggeration or picturesque falsehood. b an instance of this.
6 (Romance) the languages descended from Latin regarded collectively.
7 Mus. a short informal piece.
--adj. (Romance) of any of the languages descended from Latin (French, Italian, Spanish, etc.).
--v.
1 intr. exaggerate or distort the truth, esp. fantastically.
2 tr. court, woo.

Etymology

ME f. OF romanz, -ans, -ance, ult. f. L Romanicus ROMANIC

DEVIL DICTIONARY

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."

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

romance

Description

N description, account, statement, report, expose, specification, particulars, state of facts, summary of facts, brief, return, catalogue raisonne, guidebook, delineation, sketch, monograph, minute account, detailed particular account, circumstantial account, graphic account, narration, recital, rehearsal, relation, historiography, chronography, historic Muse, Clio, history, biography, autobiography, necrology, obituary, narrative, history, memoir, memorials, annals, saga, tradition, legend, story, tale, historiette, personal narrative, journal, life, adventures, fortunes, experiences, confessions, anecdote, ana, trait, work of fiction, novel, romance, Minerva press, fairy tale, nursery tale, fable, parable, apologue, dime novel, penny dreadful, shilling shocker relator, raconteur, historian, biographer, fabulist, novelist, descriptive, graphic, narrative, epic, suggestive, well-drawn, historic, traditional, traditionary, legendary, anecdotic, storied, described, furor scribendi.

Absurdity

N absurdity, absurdness, imbecility alogy, nonsense, utter nonsense, paradox, inconsistency, stultiloquy, stultiloquence, nugacity, blunder, muddle, bull, Irishism, Hibernicism, slipslop, anticlimax, bathos, sophism, farce, galimathias, amphigouri, rhapsody, farrago, betise, extravagance, romance, sciamachy, sell, pun, verbal quibble, macaronic, jargon, fustian, twaddle, gibberish, exaggeration, moonshine, stuff, mare's nest, quibble, self- delusion, vagary, tomfoolery, poppycock, mummery, monkey trick, boutade, escapade, absurd, nonsensical, preposterous, egregious, senseless, inconsistent, ridiculous, extravagant, quibbling, self-annulling, self- contradictory, macaronic, punning, foolish sophistical, unmeaning, without rhyme or reason, fantastic, Int, fiddlededee!, pish!, pho!, in the name of the Prophet--figs!, credat Judaeus Apella, tell it to the marines.

Imagination

N imagination, originality, invention, fancy, inspiration, verve, warm imagination, heated imagination, excited imagination, sanguine imagination, ardent imagination, fiery imagination, boiling imagination, wild imagination, bold imagination, daring imagination, playful imagination, lively imagination, fertile imagination, fancy, mind's eye, such stuff as dreams are made of, ideality, idealism, romanticism, utopianism, castle-building, dreaming, phrensy, frenzy, ecstasy, extasy, calenture, reverie, trance, day dream, golden dream, somnambulism, conception, Vorstellung, excogitation, a fine frenzy, cloudland, dreamland, flight of fancy, fumes of fancy, thick coming fancies, creation of the brain, coinage of the brain, imagery, conceit, maggot, figment, myth, dream, vision, shadow, chimera, phantasm, phantasy, fantasy, fancy, whim, whimsey, whimsy, vagary, rhapsody, romance, gest, geste, extravaganza, air drawn dagger, bugbear, nightmare, flying Dutchman, great sea serpent, man in the moon, castle in the air, pipe dream, pie-in-the-sky, chateau en Espagne, Utopia, Atlantis, happy valley, millennium, fairyland, land of Prester John, kindgom of Micomicon, work of fiction, Arabian nights, le pot au lait, dream of Alnashar, illusion, phantom, Fata Morgana, vapor, stretch of the imagination, mythogenesis, idealist, romanticist, visionary, mopus, romancer, dreamer, somnambulist, rhapsodist, castle-buildier, fanciful projector, imagined, ben trovato, air drawn, airbuilt, imagining, imaginative, original, inventive, creative, fertile, romantic, high flown, flighty, extravagant, fanatic, enthusiastic, unrealistic, Utopian, Quixotic, ideal, unreal, in the clouds, in nubibus, unsubsantial, illusory, fabulous, legendary, mythical, mythic, mythological, chimerical, imaginary, visionary, notional, fancy, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, whimsical, fairy, fairy-like, gestic, a change came o'er the spirit of my dream, aegri somnia vana, dolphinum appingit sylvis in fluctibus aprum, fancy light from fancy caught, imagination rules the world, l'imagination gallope, le jugement ne va que le pas, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore, tous songes sont mensonges, Wahrheil und Dichtung, DIVISION II COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS.

Falsehood

VB be false, be a liar, speak falsely, tell a lie, lie, fib, lie like a trooper, swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness, misstate, misquote, miscite, misreport, misrepresent, belie, falsify, pervert, distort, put a false construction upon (misinterpret), prevaricate, equivocate, quibble, palter, palter to the understanding, repondre en Normand, trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose, garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to, give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon, color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider, varnish right and puzzle wrong, exaggerate, blague, invent, fabricate, trump up, get up, force, fake, hatch, concoct, romance, cry 'wolf!', dissemble, dissimulate, feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe, play possum, play false, play a double game, coquet, act a part, play a part, affect, simulate, pass off for, counterfeit, sham, make a show of, malinger, say the grapes are sour, cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror, hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors, commend the poisoned chalice to the lips, ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces, deceive.

Untruth

N untruth, falsehood, lie, story, thing that is not, fib, bounce, crammer, taradiddle, whopper, jhuth, forgery, fabrication, invention, misstatement, misrepresentation, perversion, falsification, gloss, suggestio falsi, exaggeration, invention, fabrication, fiction, fable, nursery tale, romance, absurd story, untrue story, false story, trumped up story, trumped up statement, thing devised by the enemy, canard, shave, sell, hum, traveler's tale, Canterbury tale, cock and bull story, fairy tale, fake, claptrap, press agent's yarn, puff, puffery (exaggeration), myth, moonshine, bosh, all my eye and Betty Martin, mare's nest, farce, irony, half truth, white lie, pious fraud, mental reservation, pretense, pretext, false plea, subterfuge, evasion, shift, shuffle, make-believe, sham, profession, empty words, Judas kiss, disguise, untrue, false, phony, trumped up, void of foundation, without- foundation, fictive, far from the truth, false as dicer's oaths, unfounded, ben trovato, invented, fabulous, fabricated, forged, fictitious, factitious, supposititious, surreptitious, elusory, illusory, ironical, soi-disant, se non e vero e ben trovato, where none is meant that meets the ear.