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love

noun

\ ˈləv

Definition of love

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a(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

3a : 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

4a : 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

at love

: holding one's opponent scoreless in tennis

in love

: inspired by affection

love

verb

\ ˈləv

loved; loving

Definition of love (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to hold dear : cherish

2a : 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

Other Words from love Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about love

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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: Verb

The Stark sisters would love to join forces on a comedy movie inspired by their favorite funny film Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy. — Lucy Wood, Marie Claire, "Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams are Planning a 'Bridesmaids'-Style Comedy Together," 11 Apr. 2019 Fans would probably love the idea of a new royal princess in the mix—but boy or girl, a new royal baby is always exciting for royal-watchers, who are undoubtedly refreshing Harry and Meghan's new official Instagram for updates. — Natasha Reda, Glamour, "Serena Williams May Have Just Accidentally Revealed the Sex of Meghan Markle's Baby," 7 Apr. 2019 Her big break came in 1938, when André Breton, poster boy of the Surrealist movement, snagged a famous New York gallery put her work on exhibit—and New York loved her. — Lillian Dondero, ELLE Decor, "Fashionably Late: An Editor's Take on the Frida Kahlo Exhibit in Brooklyn," 27 Mar. 2019 His performance is the kind of showstopper that Oscar voters love. — Lindsey Bahr, The Seattle Times, "AP Oscar predictions: What will win, what should win," 20 Feb. 2019 Why do humans love champagne and other fizzy beverages so much, when most animals turn up their noses when it's offered? — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "The secret to champagne’s universal appeal is the physics of bubbles," 31 Dec. 2018 Lots of people love the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, one of the most advanced, stealthiest warplanes on the planet. — Alex Hollings, Popular Mechanics, "An F-35 Pilot Explains What It's Like To Fly the Joint Strike Fighter," 5 Mar. 2019 Diehards love their durability and, in some cases, their portability—although moving a shipping container house can cost a lot of time and money. — Megan Barber, Curbed, "The 5 best shipping container houses of 2018," 27 Dec. 2018 Fans will love the storyline of athletic student body president Jackson and the dark, edgy Maeve. — Daisy Melamed Sanders, Seventeen, "Everything Netflix’s New Show “Sex Education” Gets Right About Awkward Hookups," 18 Jan. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'love.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.