Meanings
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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.
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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.
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3
noun
a quality of mystery, adventure, emotional intensity, or imaginative appeal
The ruined castle retained a dark romanticism even in daylight.
Thesaurus
Etymology
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.