What does genre mean?

Definitions for genre
ˈʒɑn rə; Fr. ˈʒɑ̃ rəgenre

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word genre.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. genrenoun

    a kind of literary or artistic work

  2. writing style, literary genre, genrenoun

    a style of expressing yourself in writing

  3. music genre, musical genre, genre, musical stylenoun

    an expressive style of music

  4. genrenoun

    a class of art (or artistic endeavor) having a characteristic form or technique

Wiktionary

  1. genrenoun

    A kind; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks.

  2. Etymology: Borrowed from genre, from genus (cognate with Ancient Greek γένος), from genes-. Compare gender.

Wikipedia

  1. Genre

    Genre (from French genre 'kind, or sort') is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria, yet genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional. Genres form by conventions that change over time as cultures invent new genres and discontinue the use of old ones. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature, as set out in Aristotle's Poetics. For Aristotle, poetry (odes, epics, etc.), prose, and performance each had specific design features that supported appropriate content of each genre. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, for example, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best. Genres proliferate and develop beyond Aristotle’s classifications in response to changes in audiences and creators. Genre has become a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictability through artistic expression. Given that art is often a response to a social state, in that people write, paint, sing, dance, and otherwise produce art about what they know about, the use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings. Musician Ezra LaFleur argues that discussion of genre should draw from Ludwig Wittgenstein's idea of family resemblance. Genres are helpful labels for communicating but do not necessarily have a single attribute that is the essence of the genre.

ChatGPT

  1. genre

    Genre refers to a category or classification of literary, artistic, musical, or other creative works, characterized by shared elements, themes, styles, or subject matter. It allows for the categorization and identification of works based on their distinctive characteristics, enabling readers, viewers, or listeners to have certain expectations regarding the content and form of a particular type of work. Genres can be found in various fields such as literature, film, music, visual arts, and video games.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Genrenoun

    a style of painting, sculpture, or other imitative art, which illustrates everyday life and manners

  2. Etymology: [F. See Gender.]

Wikidata

  1. Genre

    Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Genre theory is a branch of critical theory. Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry, prose and performance had a specific and calculated style that related to the theme of the story. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best. In later periods genres proliferated and developed in response to changes in audiences and creators. Genre became a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictable art. Because art is often a response to a social state, in that people write/paint/sing/dance about what they know about, the use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings. In fact as far back as ancient Greece, new art forms were emerging that called for the evolution of genre, for example the "tragicomedy".

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Genre

    zhangr, n. kind, style: a style of painting scenes from familiar or rustic life. [Fr. genre, kind—L. genus.]

Editors Contribution

  1. genre

    A form of expression.

    The music genre has changed over time.


    Submitted by MaryC on March 14, 2020  

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. GENRE

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Genre is ranked #124548 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Genre surname appeared 138 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Genre.

    95.6% or 132 total occurrences were White.

Anagrams for genre »

  1. regen

  2. green

  3. Green

  4. neger

  5. reneg

How to pronounce genre?

How to say genre in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of genre in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of genre in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of genre in a Sentence

  1. Ashley Charles:

    The main appeal of chiptune music is that it's quite nostalgic -- using video game software and hardware from the 1980s and early 1990s to make sounds that sound like modern sounds, it's a way of creating music, it's not a genre ... You can make different types of chiptune music using different instruments.

  2. Roni Loren:

    Growing up, we had that image of cheesy novels you pick up at the grocery store, and people have held on to that idea seeing the popularity of' Bridgerton' legitimizes the genre to some people. It gives people permission to start checking out things in the romance novel section.

  3. Larry Iser:

    Unfortunately, today's jury verdict has blurred the lines between protectable elements of a musical composition and the unprotectable musical style or groove exemplified by Marvin Gaye, although Gaye was the Prince of Soul, he didn't own a copyright to the genre, and Thicke and Williams' homage to the feel of Marvin Gaye is not infringing.

  4. Attorney General Bill Barr:

    I accept that there is some preliminary activity that suggests that they might try again, it wouldn't surprise me if Russia tries something again of the same general genre before.

  5. Robert Thompson:

    The kind of thing he's doing with this fraud podcast is very, very much in a genre that is really popular, matter of fact, the first podcasts to really break through were these true crime kinds of things.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

genre#1#3393#10000

Translations for genre

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for genre »

Translation

Find a translation for the genre definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"genre." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/genre>.

Discuss these genre definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for genre? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Image or illustration of

    genre

    Credit »

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    a person or thing that takes or can take the place of another
    A odometer
    B substitute
    C drought
    D guts

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for genre: