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

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

Word History

First Known Use

1768, in the meaning defined above