# What is the opposite of love?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 19, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282 "2011-08-19T04:33:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282/61 "2011-08-26T10:38:33Z")

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Yesterday I was walking down the street, searching for the apartment I was going to see, saw an ad…

apparently I can’t walk, look at the map and laugh at the same time. There’s a romcom coming out this week here in Spain called, you guessed it, “The Opposite of Love” (well, it’s a Spanish movie so it’s actually called [lo contrario al amor](http://sites.sonypicturesreleasing.es/sites/locontrarioalamor_site/)).

Therefore, I posit that the opposite of love is a romcom.

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**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282/62 "2011-08-26T10:43:05Z")

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> [@indian](#):
>
> What is the opposite of love?
> 
> * * *
> 
> I am curious.  
> .

Marriage!

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**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282/63 "2011-08-26T14:41:06Z")

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Evol.

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**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282/64 "2011-08-26T14:49:06Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> Yesterday I was walking down the street, searching for the apartment I was going to see, saw an ad…
> 
> apparently I can’t walk, look at the map and laugh at the same time. There’s a romcom coming out this week here in Spain called, you guessed it, “The Opposite of Love” (well, it’s a Spanish movie so it’s actually called [lo contrario al amor](http://sites.sonypicturesreleasing.es/sites/locontrarioalamor_site/)).
> 
> Therefore, I posit that the opposite of love is a romcom.

funny.😉

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**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282/65 "2011-08-26T14:59:08Z")

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I’m going to buck the trend and say “greed” or “selfishness”.

Reason: “love” (as an idealised emotion, as opposed to say lust or infatuation) is focused on the other - wanting the wellbeing of the loved one, whether this is romantic love, love for country, love for humanity, love for one’s children, etc.

“Indifference” is unsatisfactory as an opposite, because it is opposite to many other emotional states as well - indeed, all other emotional states relative to others.

In contrast, “greed” or “selfishness” is a focus on the wellbeing of the self to the exclusion of others, and makes a good opposite for “love”.

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**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-love/593282/66 "2011-08-26T15:08:27Z")

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Some very insightful responses in this thread.

🙂

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