any small, Old World carnivore of the genus Genetta, especially G. genetta, having spotted sides and a ringed tail.
the fur of such an animal.
Edmond Charles Edouard Citizen Genêt, 1763–1834, French minister to the U.S. in 1793.
pen name of Janet Flanner.
any agile catlike viverrine mammal of the genus Genetta, inhabiting wooded regions of Africa and S Europe, having an elongated head, thick spotted or blotched fur, and a very long tail
the fur of such an animal
1375–1425; late Middle English < Old French genette < Arabic jarnait
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like the egret, the genet feeds on insects stirred up by the grazing ungulates.
From National Geographic ● Sep. 17, 2015
At around $5 per pound, the servaline genet, a type of small carnivore, was the most expensive species for sale at both urban and rural markets.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2011
The lavender had not yet bloomed, but roses were in flower; yellow genet flamed above the low stone hotel walls.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2011
“Maybe. We just didn’t have permits to trap leopards. We did collect genet cats, and it wasn’t there.”
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Later, when she listened to the hoot of an eagle owl, the hiss of a genet, and the hrrr-hrrr grunt of a foraging honey badger, she didn’t feel quite as confident.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Mr. Currey asks an important question about Genet, but assays no answer: “Was it prison that enabled his writing, or was it the act of theft that he practiced so assiduously during all those years?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
Isaac Paulos lived with his parents, Genet Shawo and Paulos Tekle, and his three-year-old brother Luca on the 18th floor.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2024
His father, the founder of Grove Press, was a towering figure who published writers like Jean Genet and William S. Burroughs.
From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2023
Even if the situation has improved, the physical and mental scars are easy to see, said Michel Genet, director of Doctors of the World Belgium.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2023
Citizen Genet, even for a Frenchman, was a most indiscreet and hot-headed person, and before he had been a week on shore he had issued commissions to privateers manned by American citizens.
From Thomas Jefferson by Merwin, Henry Childs
Glamorously writing under the byline Genêt, she filled her dispatches with more fizz than champagne.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026
The infuriated president demanded Genêt’s recall, and the Genêt Affair convinced Federalists that French revolutionaries could never be trusted.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
He reluctantly accepted a second term, but Citizen Genêt, the Democratic-Republican Societies, protests of Jay’s Treaty, and the Whiskey Rebellion had all tested his reliance on deference and consensus.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
France authorized Genêt to issue letters of marque—documents authorizing ships and their crews to engage in piracy—to allow him to arm captured British ships in American ports with U.S. soldiers.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
But a large number of United States citizens loved Genêt and the French cause and rallied around him.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
