noir

play

noun \ ˈnwär \

Updated on: 11 Sep 2017

Definition of noir

1 :crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings

an example of classic noir

2 :film noir

a comedy dressed in the trappings of an edgy noir

—

noirish

play \ˈnwär-ish\ adjective

Recent Examples of noir from the Web

The restaurant still serves an array of craft cocktails (think a boozy electric blueberry lemonade); draft beer, as well as cans and bottles; and an interesting wine list, including a pleasantly fruity pinot noir from California’s Central Coast.

— suzanne loudermilk, baltimoresun.com, "Under new ownership, Maggie's Farm is finding its footing," 11 Aug. 2017
A bottle of Panther Creek pinot noir in Eugene or Corvallis, Ore.

— andy staples, SI.com, "America's Best College Town Meals," 9 Aug. 2017
Few need reminding of the frequent traffic nightmares in L.A., whose soaring cloverleafs and endless traffic jams have been mythologized in film noir, fiction and song.

— steven hill, Washington Post, "L.A. — the city of traffic jams — finds a way to get people out of their cars," 8 Aug. 2017
Cold in July is a moody Texan noir, although both Hall and Johnson bring lightness to their roles.

— lincoln michel, GQ, "Watch the Late, Great Sam Shepard in Cold in July on Netflix," 5 Aug. 2017
If an ambitious women’s studies major decided that her thesis would be a movie in which film-noir tropes of the femme fatale are married to a denunciation of the patriarchy, the result might be very close to William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth.

— charles taylor, MSNBC Newsweek, "Cannes' Favorite 'Lady Macbeth' Isn't Daring, but It Might Be Racist," 17 July 2017
With haunting vocals and themes evocative of film noir, the mysterious music bears a divine creepiness.

— jeremy hallock, star-telegram, "Buzzed-about singer-songwriter Cody Lynn Boyd brings back bowl cuts, black turtlenecks," 14 July 2017
Lynch wasn’t yet ready to splash around in the seedy noir shadows of L.A. (That would come later, in 2001’s Mulholland Drive.)

— rachel syme, New Republic, "How the New Twin Peaks Made Television Strange Again," 10 July 2017
The canned wine is made from pinot noir grapes and has flavor notes of grapefruit and strawberries.

— danielle tullo, Cosmopolitan, "OMG Boozy Rosé Ice Cream Exists and You Can Buy It By the Pint," 23 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'noir.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of noir

short for film noir

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1977

See Words from the same year

noir

adjective

Definition of noir

:having a bleak and darkly cynical quality of the kind associated with hard-boiled crime fiction and film noir

a noir thriller

In this boldly styled first novel, Komarnicki follows a 30-year-old homeless man on a noir odyssey of death and survival through the streets of New Orleans and Hong Kong.
—Sybil S. Steinberg

The plot of this violent fairy tale is as noir and nasty as the characters.
—Marilyn Stasio

First Known Use of noir

1958

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Definition of noir

noirish

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