anti-romantic

or an·ti·ro·man·tic

[ an-tee-roh-man-tik, an-tahy- ]

adjective

1. not involving love or romance:

   One way to ignore Valentine's Day is to do something on the anti-romantic end of the spectrum and watch some horror movies with other single friends.

2. characterized by or portraying a view of love and relationships that is practical rather than idealized, and often transactional or circumstantial:

   The anti-romantic comedy-drama espouses a frank and scathing view of sexual relations.

3. realistic; pragmatic; practical:

   It is still possible, even in an age so ferociously anti-romantic as our own, to write fantastic stories for adults.

   His anti-romantic poetry is a reaction to the real and immediate experience of war, depicted in all its scarring reality.

4. Sometimes anti-Romantic. in a style that is unlike or in opposition to the romantic style in music, art, literature, etc.:

   The composer’s works incorporate experimentalism in a way that is decidedly anti-romantic.

Other Words From

• an·ti-ro·man·ti·cal·ly an·ti·ro·man·ti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of anti-romantic¹

anti- ( def ) + romantic ( def )

Example Sentences

For now, they conspire to rule over a fractious post-revolutionary France, and also to transform this lavish palatial drama and sinewy war epic into a veritable anti-romantic comedy.

From Los Angeles Times

“It’s usually seen as an object of curiosity. It’s depicted as anti-romantic love.”

From Washington Post

Priscilla Gilman is a former professor of English literature at Yale and Vassar, and the author of “The Anti-Romantic Child,” a memoir that is in part about raising a son with a disorder that is sometimes linked to Asperger’s.

From New York Times

Gilman’s astute and loving account of Benjamin’s upbringing, “The Anti-Romantic Child,” came out in 2011.

From New York Times

‘Modern Romance’ Albert Brooks directs and stars as a neurotic Hollywood film editor in this cringe-inducing 1981 anti-romantic comedy.

From Los Angeles Times