anti-romantic

or an·ti·ro·man·tic

[ an-tee-roh-man-tik, an-tahy- ]

adjective

1. not involving love or romance:

   One way to ignore Valentine's Day is to do something on the anti-romantic end of the spectrum and watch some horror movies with other single friends.

2. characterized by or portraying a view of love and relationships that is practical rather than idealized, and often transactional or circumstantial:

   The anti-romantic comedy-drama espouses a frank and scathing view of sexual relations.

3. realistic; pragmatic; practical:

   It is still possible, even in an age so ferociously anti-romantic as our own, to write fantastic stories for adults.

   His anti-romantic poetry is a reaction to the real and immediate experience of war, depicted in all its scarring reality.

4. Sometimes anti-Romantic. in a style that is unlike or in opposition to the romantic style in music, art, literature, etc.:

   The composer’s works incorporate experimentalism in a way that is decidedly anti-romantic.

Other Words From

• an·ti-ro·man·ti·cal·ly an·ti·ro·man·ti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of anti-romantic¹

anti- ( def ) + romantic ( def )

Example Sentences

I discuss this at length in my recently published memoir The Anti-Romantic Child.

From The Daily Beast

Nothing more nor less than the anti-romantic duties of a commissary.

From Project Gutenberg

The word positively exuded disillusionment; it was as anti-romantic as a notebook of Herbert Spencer.

From Project Gutenberg

But George Eliot, whatever may have been her preliminary enthusiasms,37 was radically and permanently anti-romantic.

From Project Gutenberg

But George Eliot, whatever may have been her preliminary enthusiasms, was radically and permanently anti-romantic.

From Project Gutenberg