limerence
An involuntary romantic infatuation with another person, especially combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated.
Noun
- An involuntary romantic infatuation with another person, especially combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated.
- I first used the term ‘amorance’ then changed it back to ‘limerence’ […]. It has no roots whatsoever. It looks nice. It works well in French. Take it from me it has no etymology whatsoever. - [1977 September 11, Dorothy...
- When someone is under the spell of limerence, not even being rejected dampens down the madness. - 2003 December 14, Andrew G Marshall, “That crazy little thing called love”, in The Observer:
- But limerence, lovely as it feels, is a time-limited event—it lasts about five years for most couples. - 2010, Alyson Schafer, Breaking the Good mom Myth:
Antonyms: nonlimerence
Origin
From limer- (“a coined, arbitrary first element”) + -ence. Coined by American psychologist Dorothy Tennov in 1977 as an arbitrary euphonious replacement or alteration of the word amorance.