n. 1 (love) affair, amour, affair of the heart, affaire (de coeur or d'amour), liaison, relationship, dalliance, intrigue Wasn't Rick the one from Canada with whom Diana had a romance? 2 (true) love You are lucky if you find romance even once in your lifetime 3 novel, narrative, fiction, story, mystery, thriller, horror story, ghost story, science fiction, fantasy, Western, melodrama, gothic or Gothic or Gothick novel or tale, (fairy) tale, love story, idyll, epic, legend It is probably accurate to say that the romance is the most popular form of fiction 4 sentiment, nostalgia, mystery, intrigue, fantasy, imagination, imaginativeness, adventure, excitement, fascination, exoticism, glamour, colour, colourfulness It was the romance of Morocco that entranced me 5 tall tale or story, fantasy, fabrication, fairy tale, exaggeration, prevarication, concoction, flight of fancy, fib, (white) lie, prevarication, balderdash, fiction, nonsense, imagination That episode with the girl on the train that David told you about was all romance
v. 6 make love to; woo, court Steve has been romancing Maria ever since they met 7 pander to, flatter, curry favour with, toady (up) to, Colloq butter up, soft-soap, Taboo slang brown-nose The new restaurant is romancing neighbourhood office executives, and luring them in for business lunches