variants
or less commonly antiromantic
: contradicting or rejecting romantic aesthetics or sensibilities
… this book of anti-romantic, practical advice about common life problems …—
Publishers Weekly
Publishers WeeklyCritics often identify the novel of manners with a Jamesian, antiromantic perspective, but one should remember that Jane Austen also wrote novels of manners, and there courtship always produces a "happily ever after."—David R. Shumway
David R. Shumway
anti-romanticism
noun
or less commonly antiromanticism
If anything defines the art of Weimar Germany it is an attitude of deliberate anti-romanticism, shared of course by the Bauhaus School; a hatred of sentimentality and pretense.
—Ian Buruma
Ian Buruma
Examples of anti-romantic in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Welcome to the age of the anti-romantic comedy.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 4 Sep. 2025
In two separate anti-romantic comedies this summer, Dakota Johnson is presented as both a subject and object of desire.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2025
When a movie mentions money a lot, things can soon start to feel very pragmatic, cold, and anti-romantic.
—Maelle Beauget-Uhl, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
In another artist’s hands, the song’s somewhat cynical, anti-romantic lyrics might be easily taken at face value, but in Hozier’s, they are definitely meant to be coming from an untrustworthy narrator, or at least one who could stand to clean up his act rather than reject sweetness.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 3 May 2024
Apart from Gladiator, his best historical movies are The Duellists and The Last Duel, both character studies in which an anti-romantic perspective makes dramatic sense.
—Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023
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Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 4 Sep. 2025
In two separate anti-romantic comedies this summer, Dakota Johnson is presented as both a subject and object of desire.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2025
When a movie mentions money a lot, things can soon start to feel very pragmatic, cold, and anti-romantic.
—Maelle Beauget-Uhl, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
In another artist’s hands, the song’s somewhat cynical, anti-romantic lyrics might be easily taken at face value, but in Hozier’s, they are definitely meant to be coming from an untrustworthy narrator, or at least one who could stand to clean up his act rather than reject sweetness.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 3 May 2024
Apart from Gladiator, his best historical movies are The Duellists and The Last Duel, both character studies in which an anti-romantic perspective makes dramatic sense.
—Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Anti-romantic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-romantic. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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