pseudoromantic

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adjective

Spuriously romantic; schmaltzy.

OriginEnglish romantic ← Old French romaunt ← Vulgar Latin rōmānicē →
Scrabble 21
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Meanings

adjectivepseudoromantic (comparative more pseudoromantic, superlative most pseudoromantic)

comparative more pseudoromantic · superlative most pseudoromantic

  1. Spuriously romantic; schmaltzy.

    ...she personally resented this increasingly dumb attempt to cash in on the pseudoromantic mystique of those particular olden days in this town...

    1990, Thomas Pynchon, Vineland
    1 more example

    Pure fantasia as the fictional betrothal is, it illustrates how pseudoromantic and sentimental Bernard Shaw was at heart, in spite of his public pose...

    1963, Charles Garfield Lott Du Cann, The loves of George Bernard Shaw

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekψεύδω (pseúdō)
  2. Ancient Greekψευδής (pseudḗs)
  3. Middle Englishpseudo-
  4. Englishpseudo-
  5. LatinRōma
  6. LatinRōmānus
  7. Latinrōmānicus
  8. Vulgar Latinrōmānicē
  9. Old Frenchromanz
  10. Old Frenchromaunt
  11. Englishromant
  12. Englishromantic
  13. Englishpseudoromantic

From pseudo- + romantic.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pseudoromantic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudoromantic

MLA

“pseudoromantic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudoromantic. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pseudoromantic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudoromantic.

Source: pseudoromantic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.