Gen X

noun

ˈjen-ˈeks 

: generation x

Gen X managed to stretch adolescence beyond all previous limits: Its members started becoming adults earlier and finished becoming adults later.

—Jean M. Twenge

—often used before another noun

a Gen X celebrity

—often hyphenated in such use

… 'The Blair Witch Project,' a stealth blockbuster with clever Internet marketing and so much Gen-X appeal that it's spooking Hollywood.

—Newsweek

Gen Xer

ˈjen-ˈek-sər 

noun

or Gen-Xer

plural Gen Xers or Gen-Xers

… only about 56 percent of high-school seniors in 2015 went out on dates; for Boomers and Gen Xers, the number was about 85 percent.

—Jean M. Twenge

Like many Gen-Xers, I remember childhood as an uncomplicated time when the only thing you had to worry about was being home by dark.

—Bethany Young Hardy

Examples of Gen X in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And no one knows that better than the Gen X beauty community, comprised of predominantly peri and postmenopausal women. —Dahvi Shira, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025

That’s one of the timeliest things about Always Been — the sense of Gen X angst in these songs, especially middle-aged loneliness. —Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 6 Apr. 2025

In comparison, only 38 percent of millennials aged 29 to 44 and 34 percent of Gen X respondents aged 45 to 58 said the same. —Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2025

Mariah remix is making — stamps it to an era of millennials and Gen X–ers pining for bygone culture, while zoomers discover and distort their parents’ favorites. —Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1992, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Gen X

• becks
• checks
• czechs
• decks
• dex
• ex
• flecks
• flex
• hex
• lex
• necks
• pecks