'antiromantic' originates from the Greek prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'ἀντί' anti) meaning 'against' combined with English 'romantic' (from French 'romantique' and ultimately from Vulgar Latin related to 'romanice'), where 'anti-' meant 'against' and 'romantic' originally related to vernacular 'romance' and later to the Romantic movement.

'antiromantic' developed as a compound (often written historically as 'anti-romantic') attaching 'anti-' to 'Romantic' or 'romantic' in the 19th and later centuries to denote opposition to Romanticism or to romantic attitudes; the hyphenated form 'anti-romantic' appears in older texts and later became the closed compound 'antiromantic' in some modern uses.

Initially it referred specifically to opposition to 'Romanticism' (the artistic and literary movement); over time the sense broadened to include general lack of romantic feeling or opposition to conventional romance in relationships.