: a type of crime film featuring cynical malevolent characters in a sleazy setting and an ominous atmosphere that is conveyed by shadowy photography and foreboding background music
also
: a film of this type
Examples of film noir in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Exceptions include Rialto Pictures’ rerelease of Carol Reed’s classic 1949 film noir The Third Man, starring Orson Wells and written by Graham Greene, which did nicely at two theaters in new 35mm prints struck from an original internegative.
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Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 14 June 2026
Dripping with passion and lovingly imbued with film noir tropes, Bound is a pulpy delight.
—Eric Farwell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June 2026
Recreating the worlds of film noir for a big budget superhero show would have been a daunting enough task, but the crew received another challenge when it was decided that the show would stream in both black-and-white and color.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 10 June 2026
People think of Los Angeles in the past as film noir or things in the ’30s.
—Peter Larsen, Oc Register, 10 June 2026
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Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 14 June 2026
Dripping with passion and lovingly imbued with film noir tropes, Bound is a pulpy delight.
—Eric Farwell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June 2026
Recreating the worlds of film noir for a big budget superhero show would have been a daunting enough task, but the crew received another challenge when it was decided that the show would stream in both black-and-white and color.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 10 June 2026
People think of Los Angeles in the past as film noir or things in the ’30s.
—Peter Larsen, Oc Register, 10 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for film noir
Cite this Entry
“Film noir.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/film%20noir. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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