Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Experiencing a state of emotional or mental distress, often characterized by longing, melancholy, or obsessive thoughts, due to being in love, especially when that love is unrequited or separated. The term describes a person who is so absorbed by feelings of love that it affects their normal behavior or well-being.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective:
  • After she moved away, he became lovesick and could hardly concentrate on his work.
  • The lovesick poet wrote endless verses about his unattainable beloved.
  • She felt lovesick, spending hours daydreaming about him.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• The term often implies a degree of weakness, helplessness, or foolishness perceived in the affected person, as love overwhelms their usual rationality.
• It can be used literally to describe a person's condition or figuratively to describe behavior that resembles such a state.
  • The politician's lovesick praise for his home town seemed a bit excessive to the audience.

Variants and Related Words

• Lovesickness (noun): The condition or state of being lovesick.
  • His lovesickness was evident to all his friends.

Synonyms

• Enamored: Filled with a feeling of love or admiration (often less intense or distressed than lovesick).
• Infatuated: Possessed by an intense but short-lived passion or admiration.
• Pining: Longing intensely, especially for someone unattainable.

Antonyms

• Indifferent: Having no particular interest or sympathy.
• Unaffected: Not influenced or changed by something (e.g., by feelings of love).

Idioms and Phrases

• To be lovesick over someone: To be in a state of lovesick because of a specific person.
  • He's been lovesick over his new colleague for weeks.
• Lovesick fool: A mildly critical or teasing term for someone acting foolishly due to love.
  • Don't be such a lovesick fool; call her and ask her out.

Adjective

1. languishing because of love
   • strong men behaving like lovesick boys