First Known Use: 14th century
Dictionary
paramour
noun par·amour \ˈpa-rə-ˌmu̇r\
: a person with whom someone is having a romantic or sexual relationship and especially a secret or improper relationship
Full Definition of PARAMOUR
: an illicit lover
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Examples of PARAMOUR
- And faster than you can say “You've got mail!” he fell hard for his unseen paramour. —Kipp Cheng, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Oct. 1998
- His Vietnamese paramour was a young woman of remarkable beauty. —Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988
- As the vessel made sail immediately, and landed no part of their cargo, there seemed little doubt that they were accomplices of the notorious Robertson, and that the vessel had only come into the firth to carry off his paramour. —Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian, 1818
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Origin of PARAMOUR
Middle English, from par amour for the sake of love, willingly, from Anglo-French par amur
Rhymes with PARAMOUR
amateur, aperture, armature, blackamoor, carrefour, carte du jour, coinsure, commissure, confiture, connoisseur, coverture, curvature, cynosure, embouchure, epicure, filature, forfeiture, garniture, geniture, green-manure, haute couture, immature, insecure, ligature, manicure, overture, pedicure, plat du jour, portraiture, prelature, premature, quadrature, reassure, Reaumur, reinsure, saboteur, sepulture, sequitur, signature, simon-pure, sinecure, soup du jour, tablature, temperature, to be sure, troubadour, white amur, Yom Kippur
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