lover

¹

[luhv-er]

noun

1. a person who is in love with another.

2. a person who has a sexual or romantic relationship with another.

3. a person with whom one conducts an extramarital sexual affair.

4. a person who has a strong enjoyment or liking for something, as specified.

   a lover of music.

   Synonyms: fan, enthusiast, devotee

5. a person who loves, especially a person who has or shows a warm and general affectionate regard for others.

   a lover of humankind.

Lover

²

[luhv-er]

noun

1. Samuel, 1797–1868, Irish novelist, painter, and songwriter.

lover

/ ˈlʌvə /

noun

1. a person, now esp a man, who has an extramarital or premarital sexual relationship with another person

2. (often plural) either of the two people involved in a love affair

3. 1. someone who loves a specified person or thing

      a lover of music

   2. ( in combination )

      a music-lover

      a cat-lover

Other Word Forms

• loverless adjective
• loverlike adjective
• nonlover noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lover¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English; love + -er ¹

Example Sentences

But the big loser has been the lover of nonfiction history, as the founding era became a subject conscripted into a turf war over important moral and factual issues.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Every year, male tarantulas strike out from their burrows in search of a lover.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Die-hard fans and music lovers alike will be delighted to discover that, for the most part, neither disappoints.

Read more on Salon

The scenes provide the violent mood of his bitter accounts of shell-shocked victims and disappointed lovers.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A TikTok influencer who murdered her mother's lover and his friend in a high-speed car chase has had her sentenced reduced by the Court of Appeal.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• admirer 
• boyfriend 
• companion 
• girlfriend 
• suitor 
• sweetheart