What is Love

Love

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For other uses, see Love (disambiguation).

Love is any of a number of emotions related to a sense of strong affection^[1] and attachment. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure ("I loved that meal") to intense interpersonal attraction ("I love my wife"). This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.

As an abstract concept, love usually refers to a deep, ineffable feeling of tenderly caring for another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual emotional closeness of familial and platonic love^[2] to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love.^[3] Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.

 

Fraternal love (Prehispanic sculpture from 250–900 A.D., of Huastec origin). Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.

The English word "love" can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Often, other languages use multiple words to express some of the different concepts that English relies mainly on "love" to encapsulate; one example is the plurality of Greek words for "love." Cultural differences in conceptualizing love thus make it doubly difficult to establish any universal definition.^[4]

Although the nature or essence of love is a subject of frequent debate, different aspects of the word can be clarified by determining what isn't love. As a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of like), love is commonly contrasted with hate (or neutral apathy); as a less sexual and more emotionally intimate form of romantic attachment, love is commonly contrasted with lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is commonly contrasted with friendship, although other definitions of the word love may be applied to close friendships in certain contexts.

When discussed in the abstract, love usually refers to interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person. Love often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing, including oneself (cf. narcissism). In addition to cross-cultural differences in understanding love, ideas about love have also changed greatly over time. Some historians date modern conceptions of romantic love to courtly Europe during or after the Middle Ages, although the prior existence of romantic attachments is attested by ancient love poetry. 

Definitions of love on the Web:

• a strong positive emotion of regard and affection; "his love for his work"; "children need a lot of love"
• any object of warm affection or devotion; "the theater was her first love"; "he has a passion for cock fighting";
• have a great affection or liking for; "I love French food"; "She loves her boss and works hard for him"
• beloved: a beloved person; used as terms of endearment
• get pleasure from; "I love cooking"
• a deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction; "their love left them indifferent to their surroundings"; "she was his first love"
• be enamored or in love with; "She loves her husband deeply"
• a score of zero in tennis or squash; "it was 40 love"
• sleep together: have sexual intercourse with; "This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm"; "Adam knew Eve"; "Were you ever intimate with this man?"
• sexual love: sexual activities (often including sexual intercourse) between two people; "his lovemaking disgusted her"; "he hadn't had any love in months"; "he has a very complicated love life"
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn  
• "Love" was a single in 2000 by S.E.S. It was the band's sixth full Japanese single, selling approximately 5,000 copies.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(S.E.S._song)
• "Love" is the fourth single from American R&B singer Keyshia Cole. The song is from her debut album The Way It Is. "Love" is the most successful single from her debut album peaking at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at #3 on the Hip-hop/R&B chart. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(Keyshia_Cole_song)
• Love (愛) is one of Kelly Chen's Cantonese albums released in August 22, 2003.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(Kelly_Chen_album)
• Love is the third studio album by alternative rock band Angels & Airwaves. It is set to be released worldwide on February 14, 2010. It will be released free of charge due to "corporate underwriting".
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(Angels_&_Airwaves_album)
• Love (2008) is a Bengali film by Indian director Riingo Banerjee, and based upon Love Story by Erich Segal.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_(2008_Bengali_film)