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• roman
  roman

  noun

  a metrical narrative, especially in medieval French literature.
• Roman
  Roman

  adjective

  of or relating to the ancient or modern city of Rome, or to its inhabitants and their customs and culture.

roman

¹ American  

[raw-mahn] / rɔˈmɑ̃ /

noun

French.

• romans
  plural

1. a metrical narrative, especially in medieval French literature.

2. a novel.

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Roman ² American  

[roh-muhn] / ˈroʊ mən /

adjective

1. of or relating to the ancient or modern city of Rome, or to its inhabitants and their customs and culture.

   Roman restaurants.

2. of or relating to the ancient kingdom, republic, and empire whose capital was the city of Rome.

3. of a kind or character regarded as typical of the ancient Romans.

   Roman virtues.

4. (usually lowercase) designating or pertaining to the upright style of printing types most commonly used in modern books, periodicals, etc., of which the main text of this dictionary is an example.

5. of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church.

6. noting, pertaining to, or resembling the architecture of ancient Rome, especially the public and religious architecture, characterized by the employment of massive brick and concrete construction, with such features as the semicircular arch, the dome, and groin and barrel vaults, by the use in interiors of marble and molded stucco revetments, by the elaboration of the Greek orders as purely decorative motifs for the adornment of façades and interiors, and by an overall effect in which simplicity and grandeur of massing is often combined with much elaboration of detailing.

7. written in or pertaining to Roman numerals.

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noun

• Romans
  plural

1. a native, inhabitant, or citizen of ancient or modern Rome.

2. the dialect of Italian spoken in Rome.

3. (usually lowercase) roman type or lettering.

4. Disparaging. a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

5. Rare. the Latin language.

6. a male given name.

Roman ¹ British  

/ ˈrəʊmən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Rome or its inhabitants in ancient or modern times

2. of or relating to Roman Catholicism or the Roman Catholic Church

3. denoting, relating to, or having the style of architecture used by the ancient Romans, characterized by large-scale masonry domes, barrel vaults, and semicircular arches

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noun

1. a citizen or inhabitant of ancient or modern Rome

2. informal short for Roman Catholic

roman ² British  

/ ˈrəʊmən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or denoting a vertical style of printing type: the usual form of type for most printed matter Compare italic

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noun

1. roman type or print

roman ³ British  

/ rɔmɑ̃ /

noun

1. a metrical narrative in medieval French literature derived from the chansons de geste

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Roman Idioms  

1. see when in Rome do as the Romans do.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anti-Roman
  adjective
• non-Roman
  adjective
• post-Roman
  adjective
• pre-Roman
  adjective
• pro-Roman
  adjective
• pseudo-Roman
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Romans
  plural
• romans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of roman¹

First recorded in 1560–80; from Middle French, French roman; see origin at romance ¹ ( def. )

Origin of Roman²

before 900; < Latin Rōmānus ( see Rome, -an); replacing Middle English Romain < Old French < Latin, as above; replacing Old English Roman ( e ) < Latin, as above

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

roman Roman Romans romans

There is no more quotable novel about Hollywood than Carrie Fisher’s roman à clef, “Postcards From the Edge.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2024

The seamless overlap between real life and fictional counterparts, and the faithful reproduction of such well-established facts, conveys the author’s intention to offer a crystal clear clé to this roman à clef.

From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2024

The find joins more than 6,000 roman coins the British Museum has recorded as being found in Buckinghamshire.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2023

But Hollywood’s biggest zeitgeist in years was propelled by a pair of movies without a roman numeral, a Jedi or a superhero in sight.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 24, 2023

He wore a regal blue robe decorated with roman numerals.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

Roman will also investigate two of the biggest mysteries in modern cosmology: dark matter and dark energy.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

Their Christianity is core to how they see themselves — and they see that reflected in Owens, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 2024.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

"We've got everything: wide open countryside, fantastic beaches, heritage of every kind from Roman through to Medieval - whatever you want you'll find it here in Essex," he said.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Once Roman begins science operations, researchers expect it to discover thousands of exoplanets, which are planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

"If I'm lying, how did I know about the Roman?"

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Egyptians in antiquity engaged in sword combat for warfare, but also for competition — Romans utilized swords in gladiator events, rituals and duels.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

"And that's not just writers who continually return to the Greeks and Romans -- the history, the myths, the characters, the events -- that's also readers. These are ripping good yarns."

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

"The Romans were incredibly fond of oysters," he said.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Their story remains because the ancient Greeks — and then the ancient Romans, Romanoi Byzantines, Renaissance Dutch and now, an English director and a Kenyan actress — all decided the story belonged to them.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

But it was not the Mayans who formed our calendar; it was the Egyptians and, later, the Romans.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

This record further emphasizes her leap away from autobiography into songs that are either pure fictions or else lyrically symbolic in ways that don’t act as romans à clef.

From Slate ● Dec. 11, 2020

“I’m sad that this is what America demands as entertainment. We’re the romans, cheering for the lions. ‘Are you not entertained?’”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2019

In bookstores there was a boomlet in rakishly intelligent literary romans à clef.

From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2017

That “lunacy” is evidenced, for example, by Hester’s efforts to make romantic romans à clef out of Murdoch’s books.

From The New Yorker ● May 10, 2016

The best known of his French works is the Traité de l'origine de romans.

From Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare by David Nichol Smith

Related Words

• classic
• humanistic