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• new wave
  new wave

  noun

  a movement, trend, or vogue, as in art, literature, or politics, that breaks with traditional concepts, values, techniques, or the like.
• New Wave
  New Wave

  noun

  a movement in the French cinema of the 1960s, led by such directors as Godard, Truffaut, and Resnais, characterized by a fluid use of the camera and an abandonment of traditional editing techniques

new wave

American  

noun

1. a movement, trend, or vogue, as in art, literature, or politics, that breaks with traditional concepts, values, techniques, or the like.

2. (often initial capital letters) a group of leaders or representatives of such a movement, especially of French film directors of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

3. (often initial capital letters) a largely minimalist but emotionally intense style of rock music, being an outgrowth of punk rock in the late 1970s, typified by spare or repetitive arrangements, and emphasizing energetic, unpolished performance.

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New Wave ¹ British  

noun

1. Also known as: La Nouvelle Vague.  a movement in the French cinema of the 1960s, led by such directors as Godard, Truffaut, and Resnais, characterized by a fluid use of the camera and an abandonment of traditional editing techniques

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New Wave ² British  

noun

1. rock music of the late 1970s, related to punk but more complex: sometimes used to include punk

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new wave ³ British  

noun

1. a movement in art, film-making, politics, etc, that consciously breaks with traditional ideas

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Other Word Forms

• newwaver
  noun
• new-wave
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of new wave

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

new wave New Wave

Trade Representative Jamieson Greer meanwhile signaled the Trump administration was preparing a new wave of tariffs on roughly 60 countries over alleged forced-labor violations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

The conflict with Iran cut off a key transit route for oil supplies and ignited a new wave of global inflation, but the U.S. economy avoided becoming a major casualty.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

The new wave of US strikes on Sunday evening, came after US forces hit 140 Iranian military targets, Centcom said on Saturday evening.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

Heard about that fresh new wave of horror dominating the box office and charming even the snootiest of critics?

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Cora figured that a new wave of immigrants would replace the Irish, fleeing a different but no less abject country, the process starting anew.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

"I think rap is getting gentrified," he told New Wave magazine.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026

She also inspired French New Wave directors like Jean-Luc Godard, who chose her to star in what would become one of his most critically acclaimed films, “Contempt.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025

There’s some nostalgia involved, sure, tied up with memories of dancing with your goth girlfriends at New Wave Dance Night, but all three of those songs on a random Friday in Ohio were total steamrollers.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2025

As a pioneer who spread the New Wave gospel by playing it for audiences back then and even now, he links its sounds as similar to Depeche Mode and OMD.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024

I tell him I mostly like indie and New Wave, but he doesn’t know what those are, and they’re hard to explain in Spanish.

From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez