romanticism

American  

[roh-man-tuh-siz-uhm] / roʊˈmæn təˌsɪz əm /

noun

1. romantic spirit or tendency.

2. (usually initial capital letter) the Romantic style or movement in literature and art, or adherence to its principles (classicism ).

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romanticism British  

/ rəʊˈmæntɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. (often capital) the theory, practice, and style of the romantic art, music, and literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, usually opposed to classicism

2. romantic attitudes, ideals, or qualities

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romanticism ¹ Cultural  

1. A movement in literature and the fine arts, beginning in the early nineteenth century, that stressed personal emotion, free play of the imagination, and freedom from rules of form. Among the leaders of romanticism in world literature were Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Friedrich von Schiller. (See also under “Literature in English, Conventions of Written English, and Fine Arts.”)

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romanticism ² Cultural  

1. A movement in literature and the fine arts, beginning in the early nineteenth century, that stressed personal emotion, free play of the imagination, and freedom from rules of form. Among the leaders of romanticism in English literature were William Blake, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Wordsworth.

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romanticism ³ Cultural  

1. A movement that shaped all the arts in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Romanticism generally stressed the essential goodness of human beings (see Jean-Jacques Rousseau), celebrated nature rather than civilization, and valued emotion and imagination over reason. (Compare classicism.)

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romanticism ⁴ Cultural  

1. A movement in literature, music, and painting in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Romanticism has often been called a rebellion against an overemphasis on reason in the arts. It stressed the essential goodness of human beings (see Jean-Jacques Rousseau), celebrated nature rather than civilization, and valued emotion and imagination over reason. Some major figures of romanticism in the fine arts are the composers Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, and Johannes Brahms, and the painter Joseph Turner.

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Usage

What is Romanticism? Romanticism was an artistic movement that lasted from the end of the 1700s to the end of the 1830s. The art of Romanticism focused on creativity and emotions. Romanticism influenced all of the arts but was particularly seen in poetry, painting, and music. Romanticism was inspired by, and named after, the romances from the Middle Ages. These poems and stories often included demonstrations of heroism, chivalry, love, and passion. Much of Romantic art had the same themes and characteristics as these older works. In Romantic literature, common themes included natural imagery, passionate struggle and overcoming personal hardships, and the supernatural. Later on, Romantic writers created nationalistic works inspired by their cultural folklore and art. Romantic writers include William Blake, John Keats, and Mary Shelley. Romantic painters, such as Eugene Delacroix and Francisco Goya, expressed passion and emotion through works that often depicted nature, landscapes, and supernatural imagery, as well as nationalism and cultural pride. Just like their counterparts, Romantic musicians also strove to break rules and push boundaries. They too focused on themes of human expression and often told stories of human passion through their musical compositions. Well-known Romantic musicians include Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Peter Tchaikovsky.

Other Word Forms

• antiromanticism noun
• hyperromanticism noun
• nonromanticism noun
• post-Romanticism adjective
• preromanticism noun
• proromanticism noun
• romanticist noun
• superromanticism noun

Etymology

Origin of romanticism

First recorded in 1795–1805; romantic + -ism

Explanation

Movies that present emotional stories of love, terror, and rescue, appeal to your sense of romanticism. Highly-charged situations of love and loss allow you to escape reality for a little while. The suffix ism indicates a condition, so romanticism is the condition of being romantic, or yearning for the imaginative and adventurous. The word originally meant "of the Roman style," and referred to using Romance languages rather than the Frankish, or Germanic. It then came to mean Medieval tales of knightly chivalry, and later included love stories. In the late 18th Century, Romanticism became a major artistic movement, infusing art, music, and literature with the emotional cores of adventure and love.

Example Sentences

Lush romanticism, bloody action and a certain winking distance from the material keep Mr. Besson’s picture vivid if not quite compelling.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

That romanticism inspired a radio play and novella by W.O.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 28, 2025

There’s a romanticism to living a life entirely in service of an intangible step beyond, but waiting for some vague, unpromised forever is a waste of what precious time we have now.

From Salon • Nov. 27, 2025

France will need all that romanticism and rebellion to keep England at bay.

From BBC • Sep. 20, 2025

I wanted, however, something more from the new middle-class institution than either the decadent romanticism of the sixties or the careerism of the seventies.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

Related Words

• attitude
• bias
• feeling
• idea
• opinion
• passion
• position
• tendency
• thought
• view