rom-com

noun

ˈräm-ˌkäm 

plural rom-coms

: romantic comedy

That's where the rom-com comes in, that wayward genre of sweet serendipity and forgivably thin plots set to rising music …

—Vogue

One of the film's pleasures is its movie within a movie, the rom-com "I Love You, I Love New York."

—Tad Friend

—often used before another noun

a silly rom-com plot

Does anybody cry funnier than Segel does in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the wonderful rom-com farce he not only starred in but wrote?

—Jim Windolf

Examples of rom-com in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Next up for Druski, who is set to host SNL on November 7, is The Catch, a baseball rom-com starring Emma Stone and Chris Pine. — Peter White, Deadline, 2 Nov. 2026

Or live-action—but maybe only if, say, Jon Chu asked her to star in a Bollywood rom-com with Dev Patel. — Wisdom Iheanyichukwu, Vanity Fair, 2 Nov. 2026

Feldshuh, who plays Rabbi Noah Roklov’s (Adam Brody) mother Bina on the Netflix Jewish rom-com, denied that tensions are rising between the cast and creator. — Mya Copeland, Variety, 1 Nov. 2026

Hollywood has reliably churned out rom-coms for a century, but only a handful have survived the unromantic ravages of time. — David Faris, TheWeek, 29 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1958, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for rom-com

• aplomb
• balaam
• begam
• cocom
• embalm
• islam
• pogrom
• salaam
• sitcom
• balm
• bom
• bomb