nu-metal

British

/ ˌnjuːˈmɛtəl /

noun

1. a type of rock music popular from the late 1990s, featuring much of the sound typical of heavy metal but also influenced by rap and hip-hop
2. ( as modifier )
  
  a nu-metal band

"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

Etymology

Origin of nu-metal

C20: from _nu- , a form of _new + ( _heavy ) _metal

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

At the height of nu-metal, Osbourne teamed up with Coal Chamber for an ominous 1999 cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey.”

From Salon • Jul. 26, 2025

Will Wilkerson got into the L.A. music scene and, after high school, promoted nu-metal bands like System of a Down, helping send around stickers and swag.

From Washington Post • Apr. 29, 2023

Japanese British pop dynamo Rina Sawayama electrifies the crowd at Elton’s party with her artful mash-up of rock, electro-pop, nu-metal and even some country pop.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2023

He had originally left S Club 7 in 2002 to start a nu-metal band called Skua but they were never signed to a record label.

From BBC • Feb. 14, 2023

On first listen, it sounded like an entirely different artist: Perhaps one of those vaguely goth, subtextually Christian alternative rock bands that proliferated during the nu-metal boom.

From New York Times • Sep. 9, 2022

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023