anti-romantic

adjective

an·​ti-ro·​man·​tic ˌan-tē-rō-ˈman-tik 

-rə-, 

ˌan-tī- 

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

Critics 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

anti-romanticism noun

or less commonly antiromanticism

ˌan-tē-rō-ˈman-tə-ˌsi-zəm, 

-rə-, 

ˌan-tī- 

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

Examples of anti-romantic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Splitsville, an anti-romantic comedy if there ever was one, opens with Adria Arjona's character confessing to her husband (Kyle Marvin) in a car ride that she's cheated on him and wants a divorce. — Eric Andersson, PEOPLE, 20 Dec. 2025

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

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

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for anti-romantic

• antic
• frantic
• atlantic
• gigantic
• pedantic
• romantic
• semantic
• vedantic
• transatlantic
• unromantic