noun
dulcinea
duhl-sih-NEE-uh
noun
1
A sweetheart or beloved woman, especially an idealized one.
"He wrote poems to his dulcinea back home."
How to Use Dulcinea
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA literary or old-fashioned word for a sweetheart, often one romanticized more than she deserves.
When to use it
Literary/archaic; rarely used in everyday speech.
Word Forms
dulcineas plural, Dulcineas plural
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Etymology
From Dulcinea, the name of the noblewoman Don Quixote idolizes (though he barely knows her) in Cervantes' novel Don Quixote — itself derived from Latin dulcis, "sweet."