What's in a Word...

Well I am board today and with nothing new to say I decided to look up a few words often associated with love. Society's' perception of the meaning a a specific word may differ from the actual definition... Interesting.

Soul Mate: n.

• One of two persons compatible with each other in disposition, point of view, or
• sensitivity or someone for whom you have a deep affinity

Soul: n.

• The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity.
• The spiritual nature of humans, regarded as immortal, separable from the body at death, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state.
• The disembodied spirit of a dead human.
• A human: “the homes of some nine hundred souls” (Garrison Keillor).
• The central or integral part; the vital core: “It saddens me that this network... may lose its soul, which is after all the quest for news” (Marvin Kalb).
• A person considered as the perfect embodiment of an intangible quality; a personification: I am the very soul of discretion.
• A person's emotional or moral nature: “An actor is... often a soul which wishes to reveal itself to the world but dare not” (Alec Guinness).
• A sense of ethnic pride among Black people and especially African Americans, expressed in areas such as language, social customs, religion, and music.
• A strong, deeply felt emotion conveyed by a speaker, a performer, or an artist.
• Soul music.

Mate: n.

• One of a matched pair: the mate to this glove.
• A spouse. Either of a pair of animals or birds that associate in order to propagate. Either of a pair of animals brought together for breeding.
• A person with whom one is in close association; an associate. Chiefly British. A good friend or companion. A person with whom one shares living quarters. Often used in combination: advertised for a new flatmate.
• A deck officer on a merchant ship ranking next below the master.
• A U.S. Navy petty officer who is an assistant to a warrant officer.

Love: n.

• A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.
• A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.
• Sexual passion.
  Sexual intercourse.
  A love affair.
• An intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured object.
• A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction; beloved. Often used as a term of endearment.
• An expression of one's affection: Send him my love.
• A strong predilection or enthusiasm: a love of language.
• The object of such an enthusiasm: The outdoors is her greatest love.
• Love Mythology. Eros or Cupid.
• often Love Christianity. Charity.
• Sports. A zero score in tennis.

lov·er: n.

• One who loves another, especially one who feels sexual love.
• lovers A couple in love with each other.
• A paramour.
• A sexual partner.
• One who is fond of or devoted to something: a lover of fine food.

in·fat·u·a·tion: n.

• A foolish, unreasoning, or extravagant passion or attraction. See Synonyms at love.
• An object of extravagant, short-lived passion.

pas·sion: n.

• A powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.
• Ardent love.
• Strong sexual desire; lust.
• The object of such love or desire.
• Boundless enthusiasm: His skills as a player don't quite match his passion for the game.
• The object of such enthusiasm: Soccer is her passion.
• An abandoned display of emotion, especially of anger: He's been known to fly into a passion without warning.
• The sufferings of Jesus in the period following the Last Supper and including the Crucifixion, as related in the New Testament. A narrative, musical setting, or pictorial representation of Jesus's sufferings.

ob·ses·sion: n.

• Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.
• A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.

ro·mance

n.

• A love affair.
• Ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people; love: They kept the romance alive in their marriage for 35 years.
• A strong, sometimes short-lived attachment, fascination, or enthusiasm for something: a childhood romance with the sea.
• A mysterious or fascinating quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful: “These fine old guns often have a romance clinging to them” (Richard Jeffries).
• A long medieval narrative in prose or verse that tells of the adventures and heroic exploits of chivalric heroes: an Arthurian romance.
• A long fictitious tale of heroes and extraordinary or mysterious events, usually set in a distant time or place.
• The class of literature constituted by such tales.
• An artistic work, such as a novel, story, or film, that deals with sexual love, especially in an idealized form. The class or style of such works.
• A fictitiously embellished account or explanation: We have been given speculation and romance instead of the facts.
• Music. A lyrical, tender, usually sentimental song or short instrumental piece.
• Romance The Romance languages.

adj.

• Romance Of, relating to, or being any of the languages that developed from Latin, including Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish.

v. ro·manced, ro·manc·ing, ro·manc·es (r-mns)v. intr.

• To invent, write, or tell romances.
• To think or behave in a romantic manner.

v. tr. Informal

• To make love to; court or woo.
• To have a love affair with

Feel free to comment on the definitions or suggest other definitions I should add. Thanks!

- all definitions obtained from dictionary.com