noir

1 of 2

noun

ˈnwär 

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

ˈnwär-ish 

adjective

noir

2 of 2

adjective

: 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

Examples of noir in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The genre-bending noir saw Colin Farrell’s mysterious private detective John Sugar attempt to track down Olivia (Sydney Chandler), the granddaughter of Hollywood mogul Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell). —Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 17 May 2024

There’s a distinct element of the cold, bleak, unforgiving, and beautiful that’s quite Scandinavian in its noir take on wrongdoing and its consequences. —Kristina Lindborg, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

short for film noir

First Known Use

Noun

1977, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1958, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing noir

• beurre noir
• film noir
• pinot noir