Word.ws English Dictionary

carry a torch

carry a torch verb: to love or to be romantically infatuated with, especially when such feelings are not reciprocated.

carry a torch: to love or to be romantically infatuated with, especially when such feelings are not reciprocated
Image: ketrin1407, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

carry a torch (third-person singular simple present carries a torch, present participle carrying a torch, simple past and past participle carried a torch)

  1. (idiomatic) To love or to be romantically infatuated with, especially when such feelings are not reciprocated.
    • Someday, I know that Jim will up and leave me / But even if he does you can believe me / I'll go on carryin' the torch for Jim / I'll go on lovin' my Jim1941, “Jim”, Nelson Shawn (lyrics), James Caesar Petrillo and Edward Ross (music)
    • Brunhilde, a kind of earth-mother goddess, carries a torch for her lost love.1955 June 6, “Books: Mixed Fiction (review of The Twelve Pictures by Edith Simon)”, in Time, archived from the original on 15 Mar 2013

Forms of carry a torch

third-person singular presentcarries a torch
present participlecarrying a torch
past participlecarried a torch
pastcarried a torch
alternative formcarry the torch

Origin of carry a torch

From the metaphor of a burning flame, to keep a fire burning. The association of a torch with love may date to the Greek and Roman tradition of a wedding torch, lit in the bride’s hearth on her wedding night, then used to light the hearth in her new home. Such a torch is associated with the Greek god of marriage Hymenaios.

Questions about carry a torch

What does carry a torch mean?
Carry a torch means to love or to be romantically infatuated with, especially when such feelings are not reciprocated.
What part of speech is carry a torch?
Carry a torch is a verb.
What is the past tense of carry a torch?
The past tense of carry a torch is carried a torch.

Words near carry a torch in the dictionary

  1. Carruth
  2. Carruthers
  3. Carrutherses
  4. Carruths
  5. carry
  6. carry a torch
  7. carry a tune
  8. carry all before one
  9. carry away
  10. carry bag
  11. carry bags

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: carry a torch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-carry a torch for.ogg.

Cite this entry: “carry a torch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/carry_a_torch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.