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The most common idioms for love are head over heels (completely in love), fall for someone (start to love them), have a crush on someone (a strong, often secret attraction), love at first sight, the apple of someone’s eye (the person they cherish most), carry a torch for someone (keep loving someone who doesn’t love you back) and tie the knot (get married). Below they are grouped by stage, from first attraction to commitment and heartbreak, with meanings, natural example sentences and origins where they are actually known.
Further down you will find idioms that contain the word love but are not about romance at all (such as “there’s no love lost between them”, which means they dislike each other), notes on which ones are too informal or too cheesy for some situations, and a short practice set. If you are looking for images rather than set phrases, see metaphors for love and similes for love.
Quick picker
| You want to say… | Idiom |
|---|---|
| someone likes someone (often secretly) | have a crush on; be sweet on (dated); have a soft spot for |
| two people liked each other at once | hit it off; click; love at first sight |
| someone is deeply in love | head over heels; fall hard for; be smitten; only have eyes for |
| someone was charmed quickly | sweep someone off their feet |
| someone is loved above everyone | the apple of someone’s eye; the light of someone’s life |
| a couple are perfect together | a match made in heaven; made for each other |
| two people are dating | be an item; be seeing someone |
| someone proposed / they married | pop the question; tie the knot; take the plunge |
| a relationship is in trouble | on the rocks; going through a rough patch |
| someone still loves an ex | carry a torch for; an old flame |
| comfort after a breakup | plenty more fish in the sea |
Attraction and crushes
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| have a crush on someone | feel a strong, usually short-lived attraction, often unspoken | “At fourteen I had a crush on my best friend’s older brother and never told anyone.” |
| have a soft spot for someone | be especially fond of someone; not always romantic | “She’s always had a soft spot for her grandson.” |
| be sweet on someone | be romantically interested (old-fashioned, gentle) | “Grandpa was sweet on Grandma long before he dared ask her to dance.” |
| take a shine to someone | start to like someone quickly | “The new neighbour seems to have taken a shine to you.” |
| have the hots for someone | be sexually attracted (slang; too crude for many settings) | “Everyone could see he had the hots for his flatmate.” |
| butterflies in your stomach | nervous excitement, often before seeing someone you like | “I had butterflies all afternoon before our first date.” |
| go weak at the knees | feel overwhelmed by attraction (also “weak in the knees”) | “His laugh still makes me go weak at the knees.” |
Falling in love
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| hit it off | get on well at once | “They hit it off at a friend’s wedding and talked until the band packed up.” |
| click | feel an instant connection | “We just clicked; it felt like we’d known each other for years.” |
| love at first sight | love from the very first meeting | “My parents swear it was love at first sight on a train to Leeds.” |
| fall for someone | start to be in love | “I didn’t plan to fall for my lab partner.” |
| fall head over heels (in love) | fall completely in love | “Within a month he’d fallen head over heels for her.” |
| fall hard for someone | fall in love quickly and intensely | “She fell hard for him, which made the breakup worse.” |
| be smitten (with someone) | be suddenly and strongly in love | “He came back from the conference completely smitten.” |
| sweep someone off their feet | charm someone so much that they fall in love quickly | “He swept her off her feet with handwritten letters.” |
| struck by Cupid’s arrow | suddenly in love (playful or poetic) | “Looks like your brother’s been struck by Cupid’s arrow.” |
Origins. Head over heels once meant literally upside down and was originally the more logical heels over head; the order flipped centuries ago, and the “deeply in love” sense came later. Smitten is the old past participle of smite, “to strike”, so a smitten person has been struck, the same picture as Cupid, the Roman god of desire, whose arrows make people fall in love. Note that fall for can also mean “be tricked by”: “I fell for her” (love) versus “I fell for the scam” (deception).
Being together
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| be an item | be a couple, especially newly and publicly | “Are Sara and Tom an item now?” |
| only have eyes for someone | be interested in no one else | “Fifty years married and he still only has eyes for her.” |
| the apple of someone’s eye | the person someone loves and cherishes most (often a child) | “His granddaughter is the apple of his eye.” |
| a match made in heaven | a perfect pairing | “A baker and a coffee roaster: a match made in heaven.” |
| made for each other | perfectly suited | “They finish each other’s sentences; they’re made for each other.” |
| lovebirds | a couple who are openly affectionate | “The lovebirds didn’t notice the waiter at all.” |
| lovey-dovey | sickly affectionate (mildly mocking) | “Can you two stop being so lovey-dovey at the table?” |
| the honeymoon period (or phase) | the early stage when everything seems perfect | “The honeymoon period lasted until they moved in together.” |
| my better half | my partner (humorous) | “I’ll have to check with my better half.” |
| puppy love | young, intense, often short love (can sound dismissive) | “Their parents called it puppy love, but they married at twenty-five.” |
Origin: the “apple” of the eye was the old name for the pupil, once thought to be a solid round ball. Since the pupil is precious and protected, the phrase came to mean a cherished person. It appears in early English Bible translations, for example in Deuteronomy and Psalm 17 (“Keep me as the apple of the eye”).
Proposals and marriage
- pop the question: ask someone to marry you. “He popped the question at the top of the hill where they’d met.”
- tie the knot: get married. Knots have long stood for binding unions in wedding customs, but the exact source of the phrase is unclear.
- take the plunge: commit to something big, often marriage. “After eight years together they finally took the plunge.”
- walk down the aisle: get married, from the bride’s walk in a church wedding.
- settle down: start a stable life with a partner, often with marriage and a home.
For more on weddings and married life, see idioms for marriage.
Trouble and heartbreak
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| on the rocks | in serious trouble, likely to end (like a ship stuck on rocks) | “Their marriage was on the rocks long before the move.” |
| go through a rough patch | have a difficult period | “Every couple goes through a rough patch now and then.” |
| on-again, off-again | repeatedly breaking up and getting back together | “Their on-again, off-again romance lasted all through college.” |
| call it quits | end the relationship | “After two years apart, they called it quits.” |
| dump someone | end a relationship with someone abruptly (informal) | “She got dumped by text.” |
| break someone’s heart | cause someone great sadness, usually by ending a relationship | “He broke her heart when he moved abroad without her.” |
| carry a torch for someone | keep loving someone who doesn’t love you back | “Twenty years on, she still carries a torch for her first boyfriend.” |
| an old flame | a former partner or love | “He bumped into an old flame at the station.” |
| plenty more fish in the sea | there are many other possible partners (said as comfort) | “Forget him; there are plenty more fish in the sea.” |
| get over someone | recover from loving someone | “It took her a year to get over him.” |
Carry a torch pictures someone still holding a light for a lost love; the “torch song”, a sad song about unreturned love, grew from it. If you are writing about the pain itself, metaphors for heartbreak has richer images.
Proverbs and sayings about love
- Love is blind. People in love don’t see their partner’s faults. Chaucer used it in The Canterbury Tales, and Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice (“But love is blind, and lovers cannot see”). It is a proverb, not a simile.
- The course of true love never did run smooth. Real love always meets obstacles. From Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- All’s fair in love and war. In love, as in war, people break the usual rules. A similar idea appears in John Lyly’s Euphues (1578).
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Being apart makes love stronger. Its opposite is “out of sight, out of mind”.
- Love me, love my dog. If you love me, accept everything that comes with me. It goes back to a medieval Latin proverb.
- Wear your heart on your sleeve. Show your feelings openly. Iago says “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve” in Shakespeare’s Othello. It is about openness in general, not only love or sadness.
“Love” idioms that are not about romance
Searching for idioms with the word love turns up several that have nothing to do with being in love. These cause real misunderstandings:
| Idiom | Actual meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| there’s no love lost between them | they dislike each other | “There’s no love lost between the two coaches.” |
| not for love or money | not by any means; impossible | “You can’t get a taxi here on a Friday for love or money.” |
| a labour of love | hard work done for pleasure, not pay | “Restoring the old boat was a labour of love.” |
| tough love | strict treatment meant to help someone | “Taking away his car keys was tough love.” |
| for the love of God / Pete | an expression of frustration | “For the love of Pete, close the door!” |
| love (in tennis) | a score of zero | “She won the set six-love.” |
| love / luv (as a form of address) | a friendly word for anyone, common in parts of Britain | “Thanks, love,” said the shopkeeper. |
Tone: when to use which
- Safe almost anywhere: fall in love, fall for, hit it off, a match made in heaven, tie the knot, get over someone.
- Casual only: have the hots for, dump, lovey-dovey, an item. Avoid “the hots” in a wedding speech or anything a grandparent will read.
- Can sound dismissive: puppy love and crush can belittle someone’s feelings, especially a teenager’s.
- Can sound cheesy: struck by Cupid’s arrow, my one and only, match made in heaven. Fine in a card or a toast, often too much in a novel. One per speech is plenty.
- Regional: take a shine to and sweet on sound folksy or old-fashioned; luv as a form of address is British.
Common mistakes
- Wrong preposition. It is “a crush on someone”, “fall in love with someone”, “be smitten with someone”. Not “a crush with”, “fall in love to” or “fall in love of”.
- “Make love” for “be in love” or “flirt”. In modern English, make love means have sex. In older novels it meant to court or woo, which surprises readers of Austen and Dickens.
- “No love lost” taken as affection. It means the opposite: mutual dislike.
- “Soft spot” taken as romance. You can have a soft spot for a cousin, a dog or an old car.
- “Move on” meaning “date someone new”. Moving on means getting past the relationship emotionally; it does not require a new partner.
- Mixing idioms. “He fell head over heels off his feet” blends two phrases. Choose one.
Practice
Choose the best idiom.
- They met at a party and ______ immediately. (hit it off / called it quits)
- She still ______ for her university boyfriend. (carries a torch / pops the question)
- After fifteen years together, they finally ______ in a small ceremony. (tied the knot / took a shine)
- The two ministers have never got on; there’s no ______ between them.
- Their marriage has been ______ since he lost his job. (on the rocks / head over heels)
- True or false: “a labour of love” means a romantic relationship that takes effort.
Answers: 1. hit it off. 2. carries a torch. 3. tied the knot. 4. love lost. 5. on the rocks. 6. False: it is work done for pleasure, like restoring a car or writing a family history.
Quick answers
What is the most common idiom for being in love?
“Head over heels (in love)” is the best known, followed by “fall for someone” and “be smitten”.
What idiom means loving someone who doesn’t love you back?
“Carry a torch for someone”. “Unrequited love” is the plain term for the situation.
What is an idiom for love at first sight?
“Love at first sight” is itself the idiom. Related ones are “hit it off”, “click” and “sweep someone off their feet”.
Is “love is blind” an idiom or a metaphor?
It is a proverb built on a metaphor: love is pictured as a blind person who cannot see faults. It is not a simile, because it uses no “like” or “as”.
What is the difference between idioms and metaphors for love?
Idioms are fixed phrases whose meaning has to be learned (“tie the knot”). Metaphors are images you can create freely (“love is a garden”). Our guide to figurative language explains the difference, and metaphors for love collects the images.