• 4-minute read
• 15th August 2022

6 Synonyms for Love

Because the word love can mean so many different things, it’s frequently used. But repeating the same word in your writing can become boring, and your readers may lose interest. With that being said, if you find yourself using the word love repeatedly in your work, having a few synonyms on hand can come in handy. 

The Many Uses for Love

As a noun, love is a feeling of warm, personal attachment or deep affection for something or someone.

The girl always helped her friends out of her love for them.

Similarly, as a verb, love means having tender, passionate affection. It can also mean to really like something or someone.

The husband and wife loved each other.

I love to read, so I buy new books all the time.

If you need an adverb or a term to describe how an action is done, you can use lovingly. 

She gazed at her new baby lovingly.

These terms can be useful, but it’s always good to use various words in your writing to keep your readers engaged. Read on to learn six synonyms for love that you can use in your work.

Synonyms for “Love”

According to the ancient Greeks, there are eight different types of love, so the word can be used in many different contexts. Because the word Iove is so easy to overuse, we’ve compiled a list of six synonyms for love that you can use in your writing.

•  Appreciate is a verb meaning to value highly (e.g., I appreciate the power of the written word).
• Adore is a verb that means to love intensely (e.g., I adore each of my friends).
• Cherish is a verb that can mean to care about deeply, to protect, or to nurture (e.g., The young woman cherished her memories of her grandmother).
• Admire is a verb meaning to hold in high regard (e.g., The daughter admired her hardworking mom).
• Devotion, a noun, conveys commitment or loyalty (e.g., My devotion to the subject led me to study every night).
• Fondness or fond of means having a likeness for something (e.g., The girl developed a fondness for pink dresses.)

Some of these terms can take the form of adverbs. For example, adoringly or admiringly could be used in place of lovingly in our earlier example.

She gazed at her new baby adoringly. 

Synonyms don’t always mean the exact same thing as each other, though. So be careful not to use a word that doesn’t work in the context, and always look up the meaning of the word in a dictionary if you’re unsure.

Pros and Cons of the Thesaurus

A thesaurus can be a great resource to find synonyms for overused words. For a word like love, it will provide synonyms for each form of the word and can help you to see how a term is used in a sentence.

However, be aware that a thesaurus will give you many options, and not all of them will work for the sentence you’re writing. For example, worship may be listed among the top synonyms for love in a thesaurus. However, worship has a very narrow meaning, and it’s mainly used in religious contexts or to indicate giving glory to something. If you were to use worship in place of love to describe how you feel about a close family member, your intended meaning would be lost:

I’ve called to check in on you because I worship you.

If you’re looking for alternative words to replace an overused word, then make sure you know what those synonyms mean and how they’re generally used before making the swap.

Proofreading and Editing Services

We hope this post has helped you add more variety to your writing when using the word love. And if you ever need help with your essay, whether it’s with word choice, grammar, spelling, punctuation, or any other proofreading needs, our expert editors are available 24/7 for students, professionals, authors, English language learners, and more. Try a free sample of our proofreading service today!