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Romantic vs Eccentric - What's the difference?

romantic | eccentric | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between romantic and eccentric

is that romantic is of a work of literature, a writer etc.: being like or having the characteristics of a romance, or poetic tale of a mythic or quasi-historical time; fantastic while eccentric is not at or in the centre; away from the centre.

As nouns the difference between romantic and eccentric

is that romantic is a person with romantic character (a character like those of the knights in a mythic romance) while eccentric is one who does not behave like others.

romantic

English

Alternative forms

* romantick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Fictitious, imaginary.
  • Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person).
  • Having the qualities of romance (in the sense of something appealing deeply to the imagination); invoking on a powerfully sentimental idea of life; evocative, atmospheric.
  • *
    • But here is an artist. He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of the Saco.
  • * 1897 , Henry James, What Maisie Knew :
    • Somehow she wasn't a real sister, but that only made her the more romantic .
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic . But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
  • Pertaining to an idealised form of love (originally, as might be felt by the heroes of a romance); conducive to romance; loving, affectionate.

    • Synonyms

    * (concerned with romance) nonplatonic, lovesome

    Antonyms

    * platonic, queerplatonic, nonromantic, unromantic, aromantic, antiromantic, nonsexual

    Derived terms

    * bromantic * romantically * romanticism * romanticness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person with romantic character (a character like those of the knights in a mythic romance).
  • A person who is behaving romantically (in a manner befitting someone who feels an idealized form of love).
    • Oh, flowers! You're such a romantic .

    Descendants

    * French: (l) * Italian: (l)

    eccentric

    English

    Alternative forms

    * eccentrick (obsolete) * excentric * excentrick (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not at or in the centre; away from the centre.
  • * 2011 , Michael Laver, Ernest Sergenti. Party Competition: An Agent-Based Model , page 125,
    • Strikingly, we see that party births tend systematically to be at policy positions that are significantly more eccentric than those of surviving parties, whatever decision rule these parties use.
  • Not perfectly circular; elliptical.
    • As of 2008, Margaret had the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the solar system, though Nereid's mean eccentricity is greater.
  • Having a different center; not concentric.
  • (of a person) deviating from the norm; behaving unexpectedly or differently.
  • * 1801', Author not named, ''Fyfield (John)'', entry in '''''Eccentric Biography; Or, Sketches of Remarkable Characters, Ancient and Modern , page 127,
    • He was a man of a most eccentric turn of mind, and great singularity of conduct.
  • * 1807', G. H. Wilson (editor), ''The '''Eccentric Mirror , Volume 3, page 17,
    • Such is not the case with Mr. Martin Van Butchell, one of the most eccentric characters to be found in the British metropolis, and a gentleman of indisputable science and abilities, but whose strange humors and extraordinary habits, have rather tended to obscure than to display the talents he possessed.
  • * 1956 , , The City and the Stars , 2012, unnumbered page,
    • Khedron was the only other person in the city who could be called eccentric —and even his eccentricity had been planned by the designers of Diaspar.
  • (physiology, of a motion) Against or in the opposite direction of contraction of a muscle (e.g., such as results from flexion of the lower arm (bending of the elbow joint) by an external force while contracting the triceps and other elbow extensor muscles to control that movement; opening of the jaw while flexing the masseter).
  • Having different goals or motives.
  • * , 1867 , Richard Whately (analysis and notes), James R. Boyd (editor), Essay XI: Wisdom for a Man's Self'', ''Lord Bacon's Essays , page 171,
    • .

    Usage notes

    * . See also (Isometric exercise)

    Synonyms

    * (not at or in the centre) eccentrical, excentrical * (not perfectly circular) eccentrical, excentrical * (having a different centre) eccentrical, excentrical * (deviating from the norm) eccentrical, excentrical, odd, abnormal * (against the contraction of a muscle) * (having different goals or motives) eccentrical, excentrical

    Antonyms

    * (against the contraction of a muscle) concentric

    Derived terms

    * eccentrically

    Related terms

    * central * centric * eccentricity

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who does not behave like others.
  • * 1998 , Michael Gross, Life On The Edge , 2001, page ix,
    • Eccentrics live longer, happier, and healthier lives than conformist normal citizens, according to the neuropsychologist David Weeks.
  • A disk or wheel with its axis off centre, giving a reciprocating motion.
  • * 1840 , Dionysius Lardner, The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated , page 379,
    • The position of the eccentrics' which is necessary to make the pistons drive the engine forward must be directly the reverse of that which would cause them to drive the engine backwards. To be able, therefore, to reverse the motion of the engine, it would only be necessary to be able to reverse the position of the ' eccentrics , which may be accomplished by either of two expedients.
  • * 1994 , James M. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Cosmology , page 116,
    • Clavius goes on to use the large number of orbs in Fracostoro's theory as another reason to prefer the Ptolemaic system, then couples this issue with that of the relative capacity of the theories to save the phenomena, then finally reiterates the lack (as he sees it) of conflict between the Aristotelian natural philosophy and the eccentrics and epicycles of mathematical astronomy.
  • * 2007 , George Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance , page 120,
    • The discussion that revolved around the admissibility of eccentrics' and epicycles lied(sic) at the core of this theoretical discussion, and those who would not allow such concepts took the position that such ' eccentrics and epicycles would then introduce a center of heaviness, other than the Earth, around which celestial simple objects would then move.
  • (slang) A kook.

    • See also

    * acentric