genre

[zhahn-ruh; French zhahn-ruh]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR genre ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural gen·res [zhahn-ruh z; French zhahn-ruh] /ˈʒɑn rəz; French ˈʒɑ̃ rə/.

a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epic poetry; the genre of symphonic music.

Fine Arts.

paintings in which scenes of everyday life form the subject matter.
a realistic style of painting using such subject matter.

genus; kind; sort; style.

adjective

Fine Arts. of or relating to genre.

of or relating to a distinctive literary type.

Origin of genre

1760–70; < French: kind, sort; see gender¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for genre

category, style, fashion, brand, character, kind, sort, school, group, classification, class, genus, species

Examples from the Web for genre

Contemporary Examples of genre

People watch night soaps because the genre allows them to believe in a world where people just react off their baser instincts.
‘Empire’ Review: Hip-Hop Musical Chairs with an Insane Soap Opera Twist
Judnick Mayard
January 8, 2015
I came [to personal essays] through the route of, if you want to call it intellection or a kind of interpretive [genre].
Daphne Merkin on Lena Dunham, Book Criticism, and Self-Examination
Mindy Farabee
December 26, 2014
You had a great line in your piece on Geoffrey Beene about the “genre” of evening wear.
Daphne Merkin on Lena Dunham, Book Criticism, and Self-Examination
Mindy Farabee
December 26, 2014
Phonetic, made-up lyrics are another venerable tradition of folk music, and “pa-rum-pa-pa-pum” is iconic of the genre.
Yes, I Like Christmas Music. Stop Laughing.
Michael Tomasky
December 24, 2014
Pryor played with the edges of every genre that he took up; that was a big part of the energy of his performances.
How Richard Pryor Beat Bill Cosby and Transformed America
David Yaffe, Scott Saul
December 10, 2014

Historical Examples of genre

Erasmus made no further ventures in the genre of the Praise of Folly.
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation
Johan Huizinga
His genre differs from Dutch or French not in kind but in degree.
The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance
Bernhard Berenson
It might be compared to the vaudeville in opera or to the genre picture in art.
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii
Nathaniel Bright Emerson
Yet, when properly played, it is one of the most effective of his compositions in this genre.
The Pianolist
Gustav Kobb
In this genre, if I am not misemploying that term, he remained without a peer.
Brazilian Tales
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

British Dictionary definitions for genre

genre

noun

kind, category, or sort, esp of literary or artistic work
(as modifier)genre fiction

a category of painting in which domestic scenes or incidents from everyday life are depicted

Word Origin for genre

C19: from French, from Old French gendre; see gender

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for genre

1770, as a French word in English (nativized from c.1840), from French genre "kind, sort, style" (see gender). Used especially in French for "independent style." Of painting, "depicting scenes of ordinary life" (as compared to "landscape," "historical," etc.) from 1849.

genre in Culture

genre

[(zhahn-ruh)]

The kind or type of a work of art, from the French, meaning “kind” or “genus.” Literary genres include the novel and the sonnet. Musical genres include the concerto and the symphony. Film genres include Westerns and horror movies.