Romeo and Juliet

American  

noun

1. a tragedy (produced between 1591 and 1596) by Shakespeare.

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Romeo and Juliet Cultural  

1. A tragedy by William Shakespeare about two “star-crossed lovers” (see also star-crossed lovers) whose passionate love for each other ends in death because of the senseless feud between their families. The line “Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” is well known.

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Figuratively, a “Romeo” is an amorous young man.

Example Sentences

Russell Kane is due to make his theatre debut in a "striking new take" on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet later this year.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

Other close-ups are less effective—for example, those fixed on the hands and arms of Romeo and Juliet for their “balcony” interlude, where their bare limbs interact in less-than-memorable choreographic configurations.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026

Hamnet's Noah Jupe and Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, who are starring next month in Romeo and Juliet on the London stage, were on the red carpet together.

From BBC • Feb. 22, 2026

Thompson: The masquerade ball made me think about Romeo and Juliet a lot.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2026

The person most haunted by Berlioz’s symphonic setting of Romeo and Juliet, on the other hand, was Richard Wagner, who used it as a stylistic template for his opera Tristan und Isolde in 1865.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall