Romance vs. Romantic — What's the Difference?

A love affair

Imaginative but impractical; visionary

Ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people; love

Not based on fact; idealized or fictitious

A strong, sometimes short-lived attachment, fascination, or enthusiasm for something

Having, showing, expressive of, or conducive to feelings of love or romance

A mysterious or fascinating quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful

Of, relating to, or characteristic of artistic romance

A long medieval narrative in prose or verse that tells of the adventures and heroic exploits of chivalric heroes

Often Romantic Of or characteristic of romanticism in the arts.

A long fictitious tale of heroes and extraordinary or mysterious events, usually set in a distant time or place.

A romantic person.

The class of literature constituted by such tales.

Often Romantic A follower or adherent of romanticism.

An artistic work, such as a novel, story, or film, that deals with sexual love, especially in an idealized form.

Of a work of literature, a writer etc.: being like or having the characteristics of a romance, or poetic tale of a mythic or quasi-historical time; fantastic.

The class or style of such works.

(obsolete) Fictitious, imaginary.

A fictitiously embellished account or explanation

Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person).

(Music) A lyrical, tender, usually sentimental song or short instrumental piece.

Having the qualities of romance (in the sense of something appealing deeply to the imagination); invoking on a powerfully sentimental idea of life; evocative, atmospheric.

Romance The Romance languages.

Pertaining to an idealised form of love (originally, as might be felt by the heroes of a romance); conducive to romance; loving, affectionate.

Romance Of, relating to, or being any of the languages that developed from Latin, including Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish.

Alternative form of Romantic

To think or behave in a romantic manner

Experiencing romantic attraction.

To court, woo, or try to arouse the romantic interest of.

A person with romantic character (a character like those of the knights in a mythic romance).

To have a love affair with.

A person who is behaving romantically (in a manner befitting someone who feels an idealized form of love).

To try to persuade, as with flattery or incentives

Of or pertaining to romance; involving or resembling romance; hence, fanciful; marvelous; extravagant; unreal; as, a romantic tale; a romantic notion; a romantic undertaking.

A story relating to chivalry; a story involving knights, heroes, adventures, quests, etc.

Entertaining ideas and expectations suited to a romance; as, a romantic person; a romantic mind.

A tale of high adventure.

Of or pertaining to the style of the Christian and popular literature of the Middle Ages, as opposed to the classical antique; of the nature of, or appropriate to, that style; as, the romantic school of poets.

An intimate relationship between two people; a love affair.

Characterized by strangeness or variety; suggestive of adventure; suited to romance; wild; picturesque; - applied to scenery; as, a romantic landscape.

A strong obsession or attachment for something or someone.

A soulful or amorous idealist

Idealized love which is pure or beautiful.

An artist of the romantic period or someone influenced by romanticism

A mysterious, exciting, or fascinating quality.

Belonging to or characteristic of romanticism or the Romantic movement in the arts;

A story or novel dealing with idealized love.

Expressive of or exciting sexual love or romance;

An embellished account of something; an idealized lie.

Not sensible about practical matters; unrealistic;

An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances.

A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real.

(music) A romanza, or sentimental ballad.

(transitive) To woo; to court.

(intransitive) To write or tell romantic stories, poetry, letters, etc.

(intransitive) To talk extravagantly and imaginatively; to build castles in the air.

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.

An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances; as, his courtship, or his life, was a romance.

A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real; as, a girl full of romance.

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).

A short lyric tale set to music; a song or short instrumental piece in ballad style; a romanza.

A love affair, esp. one in which the lovers display their deep affection openly, by romantic gestures.

Of or pertaining to the language or dialects known as Romance.

To write or tell romances; to indulge in extravagant stories.

A relationship between two lovers

An exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or adventure)

The group of languages derived from Latin

A story dealing with love

A novel dealing with idealized events remote from everyday life

Make amorous advances towards;

Have a love affair with

Talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions;

Tell romantic or exaggerated lies;

Relating to languages derived from Latin;