love

1 of 2

noun

1
a(1)
: strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
maternal love for a child
(2)
: attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers
After all these years, they are still very much in love.
(3)
: affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
love for his old schoolmates
b
: an assurance of affection
give her my love
2
: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
love of the sea
3
a
: the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration
baseball was his first love
b(1)
: a beloved person : darling
often used as a term of endearment
(2)
British
used as an informal term of address
4
a
: unselfish loyal and benevolent (see benevolent sense 1a) concern for the good of another: such as
(1)
: the fatherly concern of God for humankind
(2)
: brotherly concern for others
b
: a person's adoration of God
5
: a god (such as Cupid or Eros) or personification of love
6
: an amorous episode : love affair
7
: the sexual embrace : copulation
8
: a score of zero (as in tennis)
9
capitalized Christian Science : god

love

2 of 2

verb

loved; loving

transitive verb

1
: to hold dear : cherish
2
a
: to feel a lover's passion, devotion, or tenderness for
b(1)
: caress
(2)
: to fondle amorously
(3)
: to copulate with
3
: to like or desire actively : take pleasure in
loved to play the violin
4
: to thrive in
the rose loves sunlight

intransitive verb

: to feel affection or experience desire
Phrases
at love
: holding one's opponent scoreless in tennis
in love
: inspired by affection

Examples of love in a Sentence

Noun Mr. Brown seems to imply that when he retired he relinquished her love as casually as he dispensed with her secretarial services. Ken Follett, New York Times Book Review, 27 Dec. 1987
… Eddie sees Vince's pure love of pool, and after years of thinking of the game as merely a hustle, the older man suddenly falls back in love with the game himself. Maureen Dowd, New York Times Magazine, 28 Sept. 1986
Aunt Polly knelt down and prayed for Tom so touchingly, so appealingly, and with such measureless love in her words and her old trembling voice, that he was weltering in tears again, long before she was through. Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, 1876
Allworthy thus answered: " … I have always thought love the only foundation of happiness in a married state, as it can only produce that high and tender friendship which should always be the cement of this union … " Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, 1749
Children need unconditional love from their parents. He was just a lonely man looking for love. Verb People loved him for his brashness and talent, his crazy manglings of the English language, his brawling, boyish antics … and I loved him, too, I loved him as much as anyone in the world. Paul Auster, Granta, Winter 1994
Lying awake, listening to the sound of his father's breathing, he knew there was no one in the world he loved so much. William Maxwell, New Yorker, 15 May 1989
I love either rushing off into abstractions, or shamelessly talking personalities. Elizabeth Bowen, letter, 28 Apr. 1923
"Nay," said Elizabeth, "this is not fair. You wish to think all the world respectable, and are hurt if I speak ill of any body. I only want to think you perfect, and you set yourself against it. Do not be afraid of my running into any excess, of my encroaching on your privilege of universal good will. You need not. There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well." Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813
She obviously loves her family very much. You have to love in order to be loved. He swore that he loved her madly. She said she could never marry a man she didn't love.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Security — an absolute necessity given how often strangers approach bearing weapons, intent on killing other players, which is in fact the whole point of the game — and digital stage management are provided by a motley crew of random gamers, in it for the love and/or LOLs. Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2024 Their love leads to violence as they get pulled into the web of Lou’s criminal family. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 10 Mar. 2024 No Twice Friedman, Ganz, Grazer and Howard's vision of the ending saw Allen content with choosing his brother over his true love. Esme Mazzeo, Peoplemag, 9 Mar. 2024 To them, Marilyn Monroe is not the gal who always gets the sticky end of the lollipop and finds love anyway. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 9 Mar. 2024 That love was generationally passed down to her through her grandparents. Tonya Abari, Parents, 9 Mar. 2024 As the pair grew close, Clapton wrote several love letters to Boyd. Escher Walcott, Peoplemag, 27 Feb. 2024 Drake's not-so-secret love for Cincinnati Despite not adding Cincinnati to the tour, Drake has shown love for the Queen City in the past. Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 27 Feb. 2024 She’s done this in flashes throughout her career, but her vision truly sharpened on The Lion King: The Gift, her compilation soundtrack for the 2019 photorealistic Lion King remake that doubled as a love letter to Afrobeats, which was then only just starting to cross over to the global stage. Kyle Denis, Billboard, 27 Feb. 2024
Verb
Is Joshua Tree’s famed three-legged coyote being loved to death? Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024 Couple that with loving to hunt and the temptation to put belongings in motion, and this all just might be too strong to resist. Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 11 Mar. 2024 To say nothing of the other conspicuous absences from this category … Rapid-fire accounting of the nominees for you here: Annette Benning: playing a real-life hero with a story of struggle—the Academy typically loves this. Condé Nast, Vogue, 11 Mar. 2024 Lewis loved his battles with David, said the writer-director, and those battles will appear again before Curb ends its run. Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Mar. 2024 Kimmel paid a loving tribute to Messi, who played the dog Snoop in this year's Best Original Screenplay winner Anatomy of a Fall, during his opening monologue on Sunday. Tommy McArdle, Peoplemag, 11 Mar. 2024 According to his wife, who didn't provide her name on his obituary, Liddicoat loved sports, having played during his youth and having coached the Iowa-Grant High School girls basketball team. Drake Bentley, Journal Sentinel, 11 Mar. 2024 The customers loved them, and some other business owners began noticing them, too. Kylie Martin, Detroit Free Press, 11 Mar. 2024 Between the extended sunshine, the first few bulbs popping out of the ground, and the seasonal decor, of course, there is so much to love about the springtime. Stephanie Osmanski, Southern Living, 10 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'love.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English, from Old English lufu; akin to Old High German luba love, Old English lēof dear, Latin lubēre, libēre to please

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of love was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near love

Cite this Entry

“Love.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/love. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

love

1 of 2 noun
1
: a quality or feeling of strong or constant affection for and dedication to another
motherly love
2
a
: attraction based on sexual desire : the strong affection and tenderness felt by lovers
b
: a beloved person : darling
3
a
: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
love of the sea
b
: the object of attachment or devotion
4
: a score of zero in tennis

love

2 of 2 verb
loved; loving
1
: to hold dear : cherish
2
a
: to feel a lover's passion, devotion, or tenderness for
b
: to touch or stroke lightly
3
: to like or desire actively : take pleasure in
loved to play the violin
4
: to grow well in
the rose loves sunlight

More from Merriam-Webster on love

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