romanticism Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun impractical romantic ideals and attitudes
  2. noun a movement in literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization
    Romantic Movement.
    • Romanticism valued imagination and emotion over rationality
  3. noun an exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or adventure)
    romance.

WordNet

Ro*man"ti*cism noun
Etymology
CF. It. romanticismo, F. romantisme, romanticisme.
Definitions
  1. A fondness for romantic characteristics or peculiarities; specifically, in modern literature, an aiming at romantic effects; -- applied to the productions of a school of writers who sought to revive certain medival forms and methods in opposition to the so-called classical style.
    He [Lessing] may be said to have begun the revolt from pseudo-classicism in poetry, and to have been thus unconsciously the founder of romanticism. Lowell.

Webster 1913