Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

meme

[meem]
See more synonyms for meme on Thesaurus.com
noun
    1. a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition and replication in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.
    2. a cultural item in the form of an image, video, phrase, etc., that is spread via the Internet and often altered in a creative or humorous way.
Show More
verb (used without object), memed, meme·ing or mem·ing.
  1. to create and spread memes: He spends a lot of time memeing and sharing his videos with friends.
Show More
verb (used with object), memed, meme·ing or mem·ing.
  1. to make the subject of a meme: cute cats that get memed.
Show More

Origin of meme

First recorded in 1976, meme is from the Greek word mīmeîsthai ‘to imitate, copy’; coined by R. Dawkins, British biologist
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for memes

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Its implicit assumption is that memes, the spiritual equivalent of genes, are subject to mechanisms of evolution.

  • The pencil and brush are replaced by the scanner and by memes of operations favoring minute detail over meaningful wholes.

British Dictionary definitions for memes

meme

noun
  1. an idea or element of social behaviour passed on through generations in a culture, esp by imitation
Show More

Word Origin

C20: possibly from mimic, on the model of gene
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 memes

meme

n.

1976, introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene," coined by him from Greek sources, e.g. mimeisthai "to imitate" (see mime), and intended to echo gene.

We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. 'Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene'. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to 'memory', or to the French word même. It should be pronounced to rhyme with 'cream'. [Richard Dawkins, "The Selfish Gene," 1976]
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper