I. rōˈmantik, -maan- -tēk sometimes rəˈ- adjective
Etymology: French romantique, from obsolete romant romance (from Middle French, from Old French romans, romanz French, something composed in French, tale in verse) + -ique -ic — more at romance
1. : consisting of or similar in form or content to a romance
my advance toward romantic composition — Sir Walter Scott
romantic fiction
2. : having no basis in fact : being the product of invention or exaggeration : fabulous , imaginary
liked to make observations all his own and give his characteristic romantic report afterward — Glenway Wescott
treachery to the peerage was a somewhat romantic way of describing his political goings-on — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
story of drugged kidnapping and clever fencing with the … interrogators was deemed altogether too romantic — Time
3. : impractical in conception or plan : unrealistic , visionary
some romantic get-rich-quick scheme to attain a heaven-on-earth — M.R.Cohen
now that the world has become more honest and less romantic — L.C.Powys
was not romantic enough to assume you could reform society and get human institutions that would be perfect — Stringfellow Barr
4. : marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of the heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized characteristics of things, places, people
collecting romantic articles of commerce — the pearl oyster, arrowroot, ambergris, sandalwood, coconut oil — Herman Melville
a noble chase of great extent, beautifully wild and romantic , well stored with game of all sorts, and abounding with excellent timber — Tobias Smollett
had become so romantic a figure that his appearance on the street of any border town started lurid tales of bloodshed and sudden death — Mari Sandoz
reminiscing about his childhood, he almost invariably is drawn into a nostalgic mood where events and characters assume romantic proportions — Rose Feld
makes a deep impression on the mind; far deeper than the less romantic , everyday thing which shows the real state of an island in the statistical sense — R.A.W.Hughes
5. : having an inclination or desire for romance : responsive to the appeal of the imaginative or emotional qualities of human experience
most people are romantic at 20, owing to lack of experience — E.M.Forster
was once young and passionate, romantic about the schemes which he realistically carried out — Carl Van Doren
children are, and ought to be, romantic — C.H.Grandgent
6.
a. often capitalized : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of romanticism or the romantic movement
the modern romantic tradition, however, can be traced to one important literary source — Mabel Elliott & Francis Merrill
the generating and generic element in the Romantic doctrine — A.O.Lovejoy
characteristic of the Romantic period — W.H.Auden
the romantic poets
— compare classical
b. of art, literature, or music : marked by freedom, spontaneity, or freedom of conception and expression
7.
a. : characterized by a strong personal sentiment, highly individualized feelings of affection, or the idealization of the beloved or the love relationship : ardent , fervent 2
give the impression of having married for romantic love — James Jones
her first romantic admiration of his lofty bearing — George Meredith
the period of romantic love among the newly married — Lewis Mumford
b. : marked chiefly by sexual passion or its gratification
in popular speech, today, a romantic novel or film is one concerned … with sexual passion — Times Literary Supplement
8. : of, relating to, or constituting the part of the hero in a light or romantic comedy
played the romantic lead
Synonyms: see sentimental
II. noun
( -s )
1. : a characteristic or component of or suggestive of romance or romantic writing — usually used in plural
there you are with your romantics again — William Black
love for the banker's daughter takes care of the romantics — Newsweek
2.
a. : a person of romantic temperament or disposition : one given to romance
is still essentially a romantic — capable of seeing the world as he wishes to see it — T.R.Fyvel
by temperament and training the romantic who feels first and thinks afterwards — Edward Cushing
b. usually capitalized : romanticist 1
the Romantics convert nature into a solace for the trials of civilization — Philip Rahv
was characteristic of the Romantics to seek experience for its own sake — Edmund Wilson