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  • techno
    techno
    noun
    a style of disco music characterized by very fast synthesizer rhythms, heavy use of samples, and a lack of melody.
  • techno-
    techno-
    a combining form borrowed from Greek where it meant “art,” “skill,” used in the formation of compound words with the meaning “technique,” “technology,” etc..

techno

1 American  
[tek-noh] / ˈtɛk noʊ /

noun

  1. a style of disco music characterized by very fast synthesizer rhythms, heavy use of samples, and a lack of melody.


techno- 2 American  
  1. a combining form borrowed from Greek where it meant “art,” “skill,” used in the formation of compound words with the meaning “technique,” “technology,” etc..

    technography.


techno- 1 British  

combining form

  1. craft or art

    technology

    technography

  2. technological or technical

    technocracy

  3. relating to or using technology

    technophobia

"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

techno 2 British  
/ ˈtɛknəʊ /

noun

  1. a type of very fast dance music, using electronic sounds and fast heavy beats

"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 techno1

First recorded in 1985–90

Origin of techno-2

Combining form representing Greek téchnē art, skill. See technic

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.

See Examples For:

Although a techno remix of Bruno Mars’ “Marry You” was blasting in the video, the DJ’s lips are seen mouthing, “Will you marry me?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

Within 24 hours of uploading his techno version of “Head, Shoulders” to TikTok, the video had hundreds of thousands of views.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Jan-Niklas Hustedt remembers going to techno parties in the abandoned canteen of a pump factory that had drastically downsized after reunification, in his hometown of Oschersleben.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

Organisers have cancelled the four-day techno music festival Defqon.1 in Biddinghuizen in the central Netherlands, scheduled to start on Thursday, its director Sander Bijlstra told the ANP news agency.

From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026

“Are we really slow dancing to this random techno song?”

From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli

But this does not mean, as shortsighted critics insist, that striving to send humans to live and work in space must be an escapist techno- fantasy abdicating our stewardship over Earth.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 19, 2022

The central notion of techno- sophy--that life is a technology--has as its flip side the idea that technology is a form of life.

From Time Magazine Archive

Several hundred young hedonists join him in dancing wild tribal stomps as strobe lights flash and 50,000 watts of techno- house music blast from the speakers of a New York City nightclub called the Shelter.

From Time Magazine Archive

The sleek, usually portable instruments offered a solid beat, a big sound and all sorts of groovy techno- twists at a manageable price.

From Time Magazine Archive

The NBS is a veritable techno- logical benchmark to which everyone agrees, if for no other reason than convenience.

From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Winn Schwartau

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