genre

noun

ˈzhän-rə 

ˈzhäⁿ-;

ˈzhäⁿr;

ˈjän-rə

1

: a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content

a classic of the gothic novel genre

2

: kind, sort

3

: painting that depicts scenes or events from everyday life usually realistically

Did you know?

Genre, as you might guess from the way it sounds, comes straight from French, a language based on Latin. It's closely related to genus, a word you may have encountered in biology class. Both words contain the gen- root because they indicate that everything in a particular category (a genre or a genus) belongs to the same "family" and thus has the same origins. So the main genres of classical music would include symphonies, sonatas, and opera, and the major genres of literature would include novels, short stories, poetry, and drama. But within the category of novels, we could also say that detective novels, sci-fi novels, romance novels, and young-adult novels are separate genres.

Synonyms

• breed
• class
• description
• feather
• ilk
• kidney
• kind
• like
• manner
• nature
• order
• sort
• species
• strain
• stripe
• type
• variety

Examples of genre in a Sentence

In genre fiction there is an implied contract between writer and reader that justice of a kind will be exacted; "good" may not always triumph over "evil," but the distinction between the two must be honored. —Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books, 14 Aug. 2003

One of the first marketers outside of hip-hop to recognize the power of the genre …  . he first sent models sashaying down the runway in 1991 in hip-hop chic, with sneakers and chunky gold chains … —Johnnie L. Roberts, Newsweek, 2 Sept. 2002

Even the local Catholic archdiocesan weekly, hardly an exciting genre, offers a more provocative sampling of opinion on its editorial page. —Walker Percy, "New Orleans Mon Amour," 1968, in Signposts in a Strange Land,  1991

This book is a classic of the mystery genre.

the novel's hero is of a different genre than the traditional kind

Recent Examples on the Web

All three women have worked across genre in the last few years, with DaCosta directing and co-writing Candyman with Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld, Bailey-Bond’s debut feature Censor premiering at Sundance and Clarke being best known for her horror titles The Devil’s Doorway and Fréwaka. —Diana Lodderhose, Deadline, 8 Apr. 2025

Crossing genres of surrealism, horror, and comedy, the ABC series brought a level of cinematic artistry rarely seen on the small screen while keeping audiences hooked with its watershed season-long mystery. —EW.com, 8 Apr. 2025

The whole genre of ‘80s music is still, for me, fascinating. —Laura Snapes, Pitchfork, 8 Apr. 2025

This is a genre and a source of IP that’s long been here to stay, and continuing to undersell them doesn’t do the future potential of these stories any favors. —Brian Welk, IndieWire, 8 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

French, from Middle French, kind, gender — more at gender

First Known Use

1770, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing genre

• sub-genre

Kids Definition

genre

noun

ˈzhän-rə 

ˈzhäŋ-,

ˈjän-rə

: a particular type or category of literary, musical, or artistic composition

Etymology

French