erotic

erotic, amatory, amorous, amative, aphrodisiac all involve the idea of love for the opposite sex, but they are not freely interchangeable because of differences in denotation as well as in implications.

Erotic, though the strongest in its suggestions of love as a violent passion or as a physical appetite, is rarely applied to persons as distinct from their behavior, reactions, or emotions, and it is especially used in characterizing or classifying emotions, motives, or themes in art

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erotic tendencies

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erotic music

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an erotic poet

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erotic poetry

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it was the persuasion that the deprivation was final that obsessed him with erotic imaginations . . . almost to the verge of madness— H. G. Wells

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describes his erotic adventures with prostitutes— Sat. Review

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Amatory is a synonym of erotic but weaker in its suggestion of sexual desire; it sometimes connotes little more than ardent admiration; thus, one might more correctly describe the youthful love poems of Tennyson as amatory than as erotic poetry

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Sir Lucius . . . has been deluded into thinking that some amatory letters received by him from Mrs. Malaprop are from Lydia— Harvey

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Amorous is applied chiefly to persons, their words, or their acts especially when they are falling in love or making love

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came many a tiptoe, amorous cavalier, and back retired .. . her heart was otherwhere— Keats

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yielded, with coy submission, modest pride, and sweet, reluctant, amorous delay— Milton

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the shady lawns and thickets along the river give nightly sanctuary to amorous couples— Green Peyton

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The word often suggests ripeness or eagerness for love

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the English . . . are not an amorous race. Love with them is more sentimental than passionate— Maugham

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In this sense it is also applied, chiefly in poetry, to animals

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the amorous dove— Gilbert

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Amative implies merely a disposition to fall in love or a propensity for loving; it is chiefly used in describing temperaments or in analyzing character

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that crudely amative public to which our modern best sellers appeal— N. Y. Times

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he is not normally amative

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Aphrodisiac is applied to things (as drugs or writings) that arouse or tend to arouse sexual desire

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the labored unreserve of aphrodisiac novels and plays— Montague

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Analogous words: passionate, impassioned, fervid, perfervid, ardent, fervent: *carnal, fleshly, sensual