romantic entanglement
Amorous involvement mess
A romantic entanglement is a love affair or intimate relationship, typically one that complicates life—involving secrecy, competing loyalties, or messy emotions.
The word entanglement suggests being caught or ensnared rather than choosing freely: His romantic entanglement with a coworker threatened his marriage.
The phrase often implies the relationship is problematic or ill-advised.
- affairRomantic entanglement outside commitment
- love affairRomantic relationship, often intense
- passionIntense emotional drive
- trystSecret romantic meeting
- secret rendezvousConcealed prearranged meeting
liaison · fling · stolen glances · lover · star-crossed lovers · heartbreak · broken heart · jealousy · longing · forbidden · desire · messy · complicated · emotional baggage · secret · obsession · infatuation · betrayal
- Elizabethan comedyTwelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice
- comedy tropespratfall, parody, sight gag, running gag, satire
- infidelityadultery, affair, adulteress, cheating, cheater
romantic entanglementcasual acquaintance
business relationship · brotherly love · sisterly love · acquaintanceship · neighborly relations
romantic entanglementemotional detachment
Withdrawal from feelings
clean break · no strings attached · emotional distance · disengagement · uninvolvement
romantic entanglementsinglehood
Unmarried state
bachelorhood · solitude · emotional detachment · celibacy · disentanglement
romantic, romance, romanced, romancing, romancer, romances, romanticism, romanticize, romanticized