Generation X

Also Gen·X, Gen-X

[jen-uh-rey-shuhn eks]

noun

1. the generation born between about 1966 and 1980.

Generation X

noun

1. members of the generation of people born between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s who are highly educated and underemployed, reject consumer culture, and have little hope for the future

Other Word Forms

• Generation Xer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Generation X¹

First recorded in 1990–95; named after the novel of the same name by Douglas Coupland (born 1961), German-born Canadian artist and novelist

Word History and Origins

Origin of Generation X¹

C20: from the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland

Example Sentences

For Generation X, millennials, and even some elder zoomers, this marks the end of their first digital doorway, a place where their online lives began.

From Salon

O’Brien’s defenestration happened in the midst of one of the worst recessions in modern history, one that hit Generation X workers the hardest.

From Salon

I don’t recall Generation X receiving proportional amounts of survey-driven empathy, but true to my age group’s stereotype, I probably wasn’t paying attention.

From Salon

Musk took to his social media site, X, with a very Generation X response for his 220 million followers: "Whatever".

From BBC

People belonging to Generation X and younger may have encountered their elders' reluctance to talk about it, perhaps because it was close enough for some of our parents to have fought in it, and because our defeat contradicted the post-World War II orthodoxy of American strength and goodness.

From Salon