Meanings
nounfamily romance (plural family romances)
plural family romances
- human sciencesA childhood fantasy whereby a child imagines that their real parents are in fact royalty or otherwise of high birth; (loosely), the emotional ties linking the various members of a family.First known use 20th c.
Every encounter with friend or foe, every clash with or submission to authority bears the perverse traces of family romance.
1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae
Origin
- GermanFamilienroman
- Englishfamily romance
From family + romance, in psychoanalytic sense after German Familienroman.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French roman familial
- roman familialchildhood fantasy
German Familienroman
- Familienromanchildhood fantasy
Turkish aile romansı
- aile romansıchildhood fantasy
Cite this entry
APA
family romance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/family%20romance
MLA
“family romance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/family%20romance. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “family romance,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/family%20romance.
Source: family romance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.