romantic affair
Illicit love entanglement
A romantic affair is a passionate relationship, typically secretive and often involving someone already committed to another partner.
The word affair alone frequently implies this meaning: She discovered her husband was having an affair.
Unlike a casual fling, an affair suggests emotional involvement and sustained contact.
The phrase can also describe any intense romantic episode: a brief affair during her summer abroad.
- adulteryMarried person's sexual betrayal
- infatuationShort-lived intense attraction
- scandalDisgraceful public affair
- passionIntense emotional drive
- tragic love storyRomance doomed to sorrow
broken vows · love triangle · secret lover · forbidden love · betrayal · guilty conscience · clandestine · extramarital · other woman · intimacy · star-crossed lovers · longing · love letters · secrecy · paramour · liaison · tryst · stolen kisses
- affairs
romantic affairmarriage
Formal union between partners
wedlock · matrimony · committed relationship · marital union · domestic partnership
romantic, affair, romance, romanced, romancing, romances, romanticism, romanticist, romanticize