(~s, loving, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ someone, you feel romantically or sexually attracted to them, and they are very important to you.
Oh, Amy, I ~ you...
We ~ each other. We want to spend our lives together.
VERB: V n, V n
2.
Love is a very strong feeling of affection towards someone who you are romantically or sexually attracted to.
Our ~ for each other has been increased by what we’ve been through together.
...a old fashioned ~ story.
...an album of ~ songs.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
You say that you ~ someone when their happiness is very important to you, so that you behave in a kind and caring way towards them.
You’ll never ~ anyone the way you ~ your baby.
VERB: V n
4.
Love is the feeling that a person’s happiness is very important to you, and the way you show this feeling in your behaviour towards them.
My ~ for all my children is unconditional...
She’s got a great capacity for ~.
N-UNCOUNT
5.
If you ~ something, you like it very much.
We ~d the food so much, especially the fish dishes...
I ~d reading.
...one of these people that ~s to be in the outdoors...
I ~ it when I hear you laugh.
VERB: V n/-ing, V n/-ing, V to-inf, V it wh
6.
You can say that you ~ something when you consider that it is important and want to protect or support it.
I ~ my country as you ~ yours.
VERB: V n
7.
Love is a strong liking for something, or a belief that it is important.
The French are known for their ~ of their language.
N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n
8.
Your ~ is someone or something that you ~.
‘She is the ~ of my life,’ he said...
Music’s one of my great ~s.
N-COUNT: usu with poss
9.
If you would ~ to have or do something, you very much want to have it or do it.
I would ~ to play for England again...
I would ~ a hot bath and clean clothes...
His wife would ~ him to give up his job.
VERB: V to-inf, V n, V n to-inf
10.
Some people use ~ as an affectionate way of addressing someone. (BRIT INFORMAL)
Well, I’ll take your word for it then, ~...
Don’t cry, my ~.
= dear, darling
N-VOC feelings
11.
In tennis, ~ is a score of zero.
He beat Thomas Muster of Austria three sets to ~.
NUM
12.
You can use expressions such as ‘~’, ‘~ from’, and ‘all my ~’, followed by your name, as an informal way of ending a letter to a friend or relation.
...with ~ from Grandma and Grandpa.
CONVENTION
13.
If you send someone your ~, you ask another person, who will soon be speaking or writing to them, to tell them that you are thinking about them with affection.
Please give her my ~.
N-UNCOUNT: poss N
14.
see also -~d , loving , free ~ , peace-loving , tug-of-~
15.
If you fall in ~ with someone, you start to be in ~ with them.
I fell in ~ with him because of his kind nature...
We fell madly in ~.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR with n
16.
If you fall in ~ with something, you start to like it very much.
Working with Ford closely, I fell in ~ with the cinema.
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR with n
17.
If you are in ~ with someone, you feel romantically or sexually attracted to them, and they are very important to you.
Laura had never before been in ~...
I’ve never really been in ~ with anyone...
We were madly in ~ for about two years.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR with n
18.
If you are in ~ with something, you like it very much.
He had always been in ~ with the enchanted landscape of the West.
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR with n
19.
When two people make ~, they have sex.
Have you ever made ~ to a girl before?...
PHRASE: V inflects, oft pl-n PHR, PHR to/with n