paramour
noun
Bettina Drew 
Did you know?
Paramour came to English from French (a language based on Latin), though the modern French don't use the word. Since par amour meant "through love", it implies a relationship based solely on love, often physical love, rather than on social custom or ceremony. So today it tends to refer to the lover of a married man or woman, but may be used for any lover who isn't obeying the social rules.
Examples of paramour in a Sentence
Kipp Cheng, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Oct. 1998
His Vietnamese paramour was a young woman of remarkable beauty.
—Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988
As the vessel made sail immediately, and landed no part of their cargo, there seemed little doubt that they were accomplices of the notorious Robertson, and that the vessel had only come into the firth to carry off his paramour.
—Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian, 1818
Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 22 Mar. 2024
Its lyrics chronicle a gun-bearing man unable to accept his former paramour’s decision to leave Dallas for California — a near crime in itself to some Texans — to marry someone else.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Mar. 2024
Now, Swift and longtime paramour Joe Alwyn were reportedly through, and rumors about her and Healy being in a relationship were flying.
—Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 15 Dec. 2023
But things get messy when Mike Martin, the inspiration for her fake paramour, comes back into her life.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 29 Feb. 2024
Left intact was the building’s underground vault where couples and aspiring paramours from around the globe have secreted their totems and messages in tiny Love Boxes.
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2024
Think about it from the perspective of a potential paramour.
—Rachel Kurzius, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2024
The setting is a Lisbon restaurant, where the eccentric Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) and her narcissistic paramour, Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), bicker over drinks.
—Sonia Rao, Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2023
But Schmidt does think she’s had past paramours who never appeared on screen.
—Whitney Friedlander, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paramour.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Middle English, from par amour for the sake of love, willingly, from Anglo-French par amur
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to paramour
Dictionary Entries Near paramour
Cite this Entry
“Paramour.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paramour. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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