: painting that depicts scenes or events from everyday life usually realistically
Did you know?
Genre, as you might guess from the way it sounds, comes straight from French, a language based on Latin. It's closely related to genus, a word you may have encountered in biology class. Both words contain the gen- root because they indicate that everything in a particular category (a genre or a genus) belongs to the same "family" and thus has the same origins. So the main genres of classical music would include symphonies, sonatas, and opera, and the major genres of literature would include novels, short stories, poetry, and drama. But within the category of novels, we could also say that detective novels, sci-fi novels, romance novels, and young-adult novels are separate genres.
In genre fiction there is an implied contract between writer and reader that justice of a kind will be exacted; "good" may not always triumph over "evil," but the distinction between the two must be honored.—Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books, 14 Aug. 2003One of the first marketers outside of hip-hop to recognize the power of the genre … . he first sent models sashaying down the runway in 1991 in hip-hop chic, with sneakers and chunky gold chains …—Johnnie L. Roberts, Newsweek, 2 Sept. 2002Even the local Catholic archdiocesan weekly, hardly an exciting genre, offers a more provocative sampling of opinion on its editorial page.—Walker Percy, "New Orleans Mon Amour,"1968,
in Signposts in a Strange Land, 1991
This book is a classic of the mystery genre.
the novel's hero is of a different genre than the traditional kind
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Forming in 2009, the band quickly rose to the top in their genre thanks to their unique sound.—Emma Kershaw, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025 Continuing what feels like a lost art in the genre with one of the best album rollouts hip-hop’s seen in years, the Clipse sat down with Fear of God designer Jerry Lorenzo on Tuesday (July 1) for Spotify’s Countdown To vodcast series.—Michael Saponara, Billboard, 1 July 2025 Beyoncé, when promoting her now-GRAMMY award-winning country album, Cowboy Carter, was vocal about previously not feeling welcome in the genre.—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 1 July 2025 The novel alternates between their perspectives, with their voices showcasing different L.A. genres: Wes, a noir, and Roya, a tell-all with Britney Spears songs as the title chapters.—Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 1 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for genre
Word History
Etymology
French, from Middle French, kind, gender — more at gender
Share