lovemaking
Americannoun
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the act of courting or wooing.
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sexual activity.
noun
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sexual play and activity between lovers, esp including sexual intercourse
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an archaic word for courtship
Etymology
Origin of lovemaking
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at love, making
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His performance feels awkward at first—like Jason Biggs or Will Ferrell fretting about lovemaking and analysts in a late-era Woody Allen film—but it becomes more convincing as the play progresses, as does the play itself.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018
Boys and girls read Lorna Doone; but the girls skip all the fighting, the boys all the lovemaking.
From Time Magazine Archive
His name is Valancourt, and his idea of passionate lovemaking is to beseech, if Emily thinks him "not unworthy such honour," whether he "might be permitted sometimes to enquire after your health."
From Time Magazine Archive
Some of them: Husband Jay wouldn't let her dance or play tennis with anybody but him, didn't like her theatrical friends, demanded full-fashioned meals, and was too demonstrative in his public lovemaking.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had always said that a fellow had shown himself a bungler at lovemaking if he were not practically assured of the result before he came to the point of the declaration.
From Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, November, 1878 of Popular Literature and Science by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
