Romantic vs. Sensual — What's the Difference?

Having, showing, expressive of, or conducive to feelings of love or romance

Relating to or involving gratification of the senses and physical, especially sexual, pleasure

Imaginative but impractical; visionary

Relating to or involving gratification of the senses, especially sexual gratification

Not based on fact; idealized or fictitious

Sexually attractive

Of, relating to, or characteristic of artistic romance

Given to or preoccupied with gratification of the senses.

Often Romantic Of or characteristic of romanticism in the arts.

Relating to or affecting any of the senses or a sense organ; sensory

A romantic person.

Inducing pleasurable or erotic sensations.

Often Romantic A follower or adherent of romanticism.

Of or pertaining to the physical senses; sensory.

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.

Provoking or exciting a strong response in the senses.

(obsolete) Fictitious, imaginary.

Pertaining to, consisting in, or affecting, the sense, or bodily organs of perception; relating to, or concerning, the body, in distinction from the spirit.

Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person).

Hence, not spiritual or intellectual; carnal; fleshly; pertaining to, or consisting in, the gratification of the senses, or the indulgence of appetites; wordly.

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.

Devoted to the pleasures of sense and appetite; luxurious; voluptuous; lewd; libidinous.

Pertaining to an idealised form of love (originally, as might be felt by the heroes of a romance); conducive to romance; loving, affectionate.

Pertaining or peculiar to the philosophical doctrine of sensualism.

Alternative form of Romantic

Of the appetites and passions of the body;

Experiencing romantic attraction.

Sexually exciting or gratifying;

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).

Of or pertaining to romance; involving or resembling romance; hence, fanciful; marvelous; extravagant; unreal; as, a romantic tale; a romantic notion; a romantic undertaking.

Entertaining ideas and expectations suited to a romance; as, a romantic person; a romantic mind.

Of or pertaining to the style of the Christian and popular literature of the Middle Ages, as opposed to the classical antique; of the nature of, or appropriate to, that style; as, the romantic school of poets.

Characterized by strangeness or variety; suggestive of adventure; suited to romance; wild; picturesque; - applied to scenery; as, a romantic landscape.

A soulful or amorous idealist

An artist of the romantic period or someone influenced by romanticism

Belonging to or characteristic of romanticism or the Romantic movement in the arts;

Expressive of or exciting sexual love or romance;

Not sensible about practical matters; unrealistic;