romanticism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century movement in European art, literature, and music that emphasized imagination, emotion, individual experience, and nature

   Romanticism challenged neoclassical restraint by elevating imagination and intense feeling.

2. 2
   noun

   a tendency to idealize something or present it as more exciting, mysterious, or beautiful than it really is

   The memoir avoids romanticism about poverty and describes its hardships directly.

3. 3
   noun

   a quality of mystery, adventure, emotional intensity, or imaginative appeal

   The ruined castle retained a dark romanticism even in daylight.

From romantic + -ism. Romantic developed from romance, originally a vernacular tale of adventure; Romanticism became the name of the European movement that prized imagination, emotion, nature, and individual freedom over neoclassical order and Enlightenment rationalism.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
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