Love-hate
adj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To feel both love and hate (for someone or something), often simultaneously. transitive
"[…]Eric got to act out his resentment while also hating himself, really love-hating himself, and he got to do it while masquerading as a warrior for the less fortunate!"
- 1 Of a relationship: involving feelings of both love and hate, often simultaneously. not-comparable
"The krogan have had a love-hate relationship with varren for millennia, alternately fighting them for territory and embracing them as treasured companions."
Example
More examples"Freud developed the love-hate relationship between parents and child as the Oedipus complex."
Etymology
The adjective is a calque of German Liebe-Hass (now more commonly Hassliebe (“love-hate relationship”)), from Liebe (“love; relationship of love”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love”)) + Hass (“hate; hatred”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂d- (“anger; hatred”)). The verb is derived from the adjective.
Related phrases
More for "love-hate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.