Platonic love
Americannoun
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Platonism. love of the Idea of beauty, seen as terminating an evolution from the desire for an individual and the love of physical beauty to the love and contemplation of spiritual or ideal beauty.
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Usually platonic love an intimate companionship or relationship, especially between two people of different genders, that is characterized by the absence of sexual involvement; a spiritual affection.
Etymology
Origin of Platonic love
First recorded in 1635–45
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.
Platonic love is heroic and “excites to the desire for philosophy and truth,” he declaims.
From Slate ● Feb. 2, 2016
But it took the cleverness of Baldassare Castiglione, a 16th century popularizer of Platonic love treatises, to humanize the conceit for sophisticated courtiers.
From Time Magazine Archive
His dialogue on Platonic love is entitled Gli Asolani.
From The Browning Cyclop?dia A Guide to the Study of the Works of Robert Browning by Edward Berdoe
Platonic love was possible, doubly possible in souls tense with poetic wants; it became a reality through the strength of the wish for it.
From Euphorion Being Studies of the Antique and the Mediaeval in the Renaissance - Vol. II by Vernon Lee
But the trouble with Platonic love is that it's always turning out too nice to be Platonic, or too Platonic to be nice.
From The Prairie Wife by Harvey Dunn
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