Definition of meme
1 : an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture Memes (discrete units of knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are to life. Just as biological evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes in the gene pool, cultural evolution may be driven by the most successful memes. — Richard Dawkins
2 : an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media … the band encouraged fans to make memes to advertise the U.S. release of their EP … — William Gruger The grumpy cat meme frowned its way onto the Internet in September 2012 and never turned its dissatisfied head back. Since then, the image of the cranky cat has grown more and more popular in direct proportion to appearing less and less impressed by fame. — Anastasia Thrift
memetic
play \mē-ˈme-tik, mə-\ adjective … the exhibition seeks to give a sense not only of Holmes's origins but of the real-world milieu in which Conan Doyle set him and of his memetic spread through the culture. — Sam LeithPeople Are Reading
Recent Examples of meme from the Web
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State photographers were on-hand to capture the moment, which quickly spawned memes from social media users who likened the US President to everything from comic book characters to blockbuster movie villains.
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On April 28, the same Facebook user shared a meme that showed a picture of Confederate statues being removed.
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Writing has taken many forms in the short history of the United States, from the Declaration of Independence all the way up to today’s bite-sized memes and tweets.
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Pictures of a smiling President Trump posing with a dour looking Pope Francis, have launched a sea of memes spoofing the photo-ops at the Holy See.
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One recipient, Sandro Sanfelice, 28, an analyst at a telecommunications company who founded a Facebook page that makes visual jokes about Mr. Temer and other subjects, promptly vowed to carry on the mockery, one meme at a time.
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As Refinery29 reports, Jack first hit viral status when his video was used as part of a Facebook meme.
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Well, Chloe was only about three-years-old on that fateful day when her unimpressed faced got stamped into the meme archive of eternity.
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As the memes continue to spread for no apparent reason, the whole thing gets funnier.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'meme'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, British scientist Richard Dawkins defended his newly coined word meme, which he defined as "a unit of cultural transmission." Having first considered, then rejected, "mimeme," he wrote: "‘Mimeme’ comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like ‘gene.’ I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate ‘mimeme’ to ‘meme.’" (The suitable Greek root was mim-, meaning "mime" or "mimic." The English suffix -eme indicates a distinctive unit of language structure, as in "grapheme," "lexeme," and "phoneme.") "Meme" itself, like any good meme, caught on fairly quickly, spreading from person to person as it established itself in the language.
Origin and Etymology of meme
alteration of mimeme, from mim- (as in mimesis) + -eme
First Known Use: 1976
MEME Defined for English Language Learners
meme
playDefinition of meme for English Language Learners
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: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from one person to another in a culture
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: an amusing or interesting picture, video, etc., that is spread widely through the Internet
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