as in erotic
of, relating to, exciting, or expressing sexual attraction or desire
amatory letters that kept their love alive during the years they were separated by war
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Recent Examples of amatory
The brilliant young Mozart, only 34 at the time of the premiere, lifted this ludicrous amatory romp into sublime heights with his music.
—
Jeremy Yudkin, BostonGlobe.com, 17 July 2023
Lapine, making his feature film debut, doesn’t have the technique to turn this amatory whirl into a lyrical roundelay.
—Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2023
Peacock, talented, attractive, amatory, and a good friend to the bohemian Shelley circle, married, rather surprisingly, a Welsh parson’s daughter, Jane Gryffydh, who was ill at ease in London and developed life-long mental illness after the death of one of her children.
—Hermione Lee, The New York Review of Books, 17 Nov. 2020
Jeremy Yudkin, BostonGlobe.com, 17 July 2023
Lapine, making his feature film debut, doesn’t have the technique to turn this amatory whirl into a lyrical roundelay.
—Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2023
Peacock, talented, attractive, amatory, and a good friend to the bohemian Shelley circle, married, rather surprisingly, a Welsh parson’s daughter, Jane Gryffydh, who was ill at ease in London and developed life-long mental illness after the death of one of her children.
—Hermione Lee, The New York Review of Books, 17 Nov. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for amatory
Adjective
-
Through a red chain-link curtain is a back room containing the likes of Screw, Al Goldstein’s erotic tabloid from the sixties and seventies.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
-
An easy comparison with the version available concurrently on PPOV showed the omission of Sidney Sweeney’s partial nudity in the steamy scenes that helped turn Paul Feig’s rebooting of the 1990s erotic thriller into one of the year’s megahits.—
Gustavo Turner,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
As far as wellness trends go, small talk isn’t sexy.—
Keith Wagstaff,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Apr. 2026
-
How did Smart feel about Deborah getting to have some sexy fun?—
Antonia Blyth,
Deadline,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The pair have an amorous meeting that will have consequences for the rest of the season.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
23 Feb. 2026
-
The amorous couple abandoned their spouses, children, and lives (and Wright his practice) in 1909 to spend a year together in Europe before relocating to Taliesin in 1911.—
Carrie Hojnicki,
Architectural Digest,
20 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Amatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/amatory. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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