unrequited love

Meaning

Unrequited love refers to romantic feelings that are not returned or reciprocated by the other person. It is a formal, literary, and deeply emotional term often used in literature, poetry, or serious personal reflections. While formal, it is widely understood and used in everyday conversations to describe the pain of one-sided affection.

Examples

• He spent years harboring an unrequited love for his closest childhood friend.

  He spent years harboring an unrequited love for his closest childhood friend.

• The novel explores the bittersweet nature of unrequited love in modern times.

  The novel explores the bittersweet nature of unrequited love in modern times.

• It took her a long time to move past the pain of unrequited love.

  It took her a long time to move past the pain of unrequited love.

• Many famous love songs are actually about the agony of unrequited love.

  Many famous love songs are actually about the agony of unrequited love.

• She realized his feelings for her were just a case of unrequited love.

  She realized his feelings for her were just a case of unrequited love.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ He suffered from unreturned love.

  ✓ He suffered from unrequited love.

  While 'unreturned' is grammatically correct, 'unrequited' is the standard, idiomatic collocation used for romantic feelings.

• ✗ She had an unrequited love to him.

  ✓ She had an unrequited love for him.

  The preposition 'for' is always used after 'love' in this context, not 'to'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Writing poetry became his only outlet for dealing with his ___.

  💡 romantic feelings that aren't returned

  Show answer

  unrequited love

• Is there anything more painful than the sting of ___?

  💡 one-sided affection

  Show answer

  unrequited love