puppy love

noun

Definition of puppy love

: transitory love or affection felt by a child or adolescent

See puppy love defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of puppy love from the Web

There are bouts of puppy love (and more intense crushes), plenty of witty garbles from Sunny, and some Broadway-worthy performances from Harris (the end of episode three might be the grandest of them all).

— michaela bechler, Vogue, "A Series of Unfortunate Events," 29 Mar. 2018
Ohio's feeling the puppy love -- the state may soon name the Labrador retriever as its official dog.

— christina kline, CNN, "Quickly catch up on the day's news," 20 Mar. 2018
An Idaho family was feeling no puppy love for the carrier after a Delta flight mix-up delivered the wrong dog, and sent their new puppy on a cross-country adventure across three cities.

— janine puhak, Fox News, "Delta sends puppy to the wrong destination," 20 Mar. 2018
The designers will also be doing an appearance at Saks Fifth Avenue on March 13 from 6:30–7:30 p.m. McCollough and Hernandez spoke to the Cut about their favorite scents including baby powder, New Mexico incense, and puppy love.

— kathleen hou, The Cut, "Proenza Schouler Loves the Scent of Crayons and Puppies," 12 Mar. 2018
Basically, everything up to 17 is either puppy love or cause for a criminal investigation.

— mick lasalle, San Francisco Chronicle, "Ask Mick LaSalle: Is ‘The Disaster Artist’ good or so bad it’s good?," 17 Jan. 2018
Fans exploded on Twitter over the news of the puppy love, and expressed every emotion from shock over the unlikely pairing to playful jokes on adult investment in a teenage relationship.

— rania aniftos, Billboard, "Millie Bobby Brown & Jacob Sartorius Are Rumored to Be Dating & Twitter Has Thoughts," 17 Jan. 2018
And the wide-eyed, owl-like porgs that populate Luke's island seem reverse-engineered to elicit immediate puppy love in the audience.

— the washington post, NOLA.com, "'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' movie review: Another winning chapter," 13 Dec. 2017
Some might say there's no love like puppy love, and this 2-year-old golden retriever named Rosie has a huge case of it—for her own nine puppies.

— madison alcedo, Country Living, "The Love This Golden Retriever Has For Her Nine Puppies Will Melt Your Heart," 11 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'puppy love.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.