Princeton's WordNet(2.58 / 12 votes)Rate this definition:

1. genre(noun)

   a kind of literary or artistic work

2. writing style, literary genre, genre(noun)

   a style of expressing yourself in writing

3. music genre, musical genre, genre, musical style(noun)

   an expressive style of music

4. genre(noun)

   a class of art (or artistic endeavor) having a characteristic form or technique

Wiktionary(2.60 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. genre(Noun)

   A kind; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks.

Origin: Borrowed from genre, from genus (cognate with Ancient Greek γένος), from genes-. Compare gender.

Webster Dictionary(3.17 / 6 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Genre(noun)

   a style of painting, sculpture, or other imitative art, which illustrates everyday life and manners

Origin: [F. See Gender.]

Freebase(3.85 / 13 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Genre

   Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Genre theory is a branch of critical theory. Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry, prose and performance had a specific and calculated style that related to the theme of the story. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best. In later periods genres proliferated and developed in response to changes in audiences and creators. Genre became a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictable art. Because art is often a response to a social state, in that people write/paint/sing/dance about what they know about, the use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings. In fact as far back as ancient Greece, new art forms were emerging that called for the evolution of genre, for example the "tragicomedy".

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(1.80 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Genre

   zhangr, n. kind, style: a style of painting scenes from familiar or rustic life. [Fr. genre, kind—L. genus.]

Anagrams for genre »

1. regen

2. green, Green

3. neger

4. Green

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of genre in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of genre in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Sample Sentences & Example Usage

1. Vanna Bonta:

   Any literature, when it arrives at being good literature, transcends genre.

2. Chris Sell:

   It brought a whole new genre of people in, everybody was a little bit shocked.

3. Rory Bruer:

   There is so much love for this film, it starts with the Kendricks. They're visionaries in this genre.

4. Paul Sorvino:

   It's not even part of a genre; it's like tearing off that wall and taking a look inside to see what it really is.

5. Michel Franco:

   My films are not trying to be easy on the public, but rather are developing a story that is not very common and does not fit into a genre.

Images & Illustrations of genre