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

But as with the greatest rom-coms, this one belongs to the lovebirds Barbaro and Turner, two of this generation’s finest, most dexterous actors. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 5 Aug. 2026

Withers speaks with enthusiasm about the project, but contests the rom-com designation; for him, there’s a little more meat to it. — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 4 Aug. 2026

Only, a rom-com starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner that comes out this week. — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 3 Aug. 2026

Here’s a fish-out-of-water rom-com wedged into, um, a spy thriller about aliens in New Mexico. — Ew Staff, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Aug. 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