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genre - 6 dictionary results

gen⋅re

  [zhahn-ruh; Fr. zhahn-ruh ] noun, plural -res  [-ruhz; Fr. -ruh ] , adjective
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–noun
1. a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epic poetry; the genre of symphonic music.
2. Fine Arts.
a. paintings in which scenes of everyday life form the subject matter.
b. a realistic style of painting using such subject matter.
3. genus; kind; sort; style.
–adjective
4. Fine Arts. of or pertaining to genre.
5. of or pertaining to a distinctive literary type.
Origin:
1760–70; < F: kind, sort; see gender 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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gen·re   (zhän'rə)   
n.  
  1. A type or class: "Emaciated famine victims ... on television focused a new genre of attention on the continent" (Helen Kitchen).
    1. A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content: "his six String Quartets ... the most important works in the genre since Beethoven's" (Time).
    2. A realistic style of painting that depicts scenes from everyday life.

[French, from Old French, kind, from Latin genus, gener-; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Genre

Genre\ (zh[aum]N"r'), n. [F. See Gender.] (Fine Arts) A style of painting, sculpture, or other imitative art, which illustrates everyday life and manners.

Genre

Gen"re\, n. Kind; genus; class; form; style, esp. in literature.

French drama was lisping or still inarticulate; the great French genre of the fabliau was hardly born. --Saintsbury.

A particular demand . . . that we shall pay special attention to the matter of genres -- that is, to the different forms or categories of literature. --W. P. Trent.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : genre
Spanish: carácter,
German: der Charakter,
Japanese: 性格
More Translations »

genre [(zhahn-ruh)]

The kind or type of a work of art, from the French, meaning “kind” or “genus.” Literary genres include the novel and the sonnet. Musical genres include the concerto and the symphony. Film genres include Westerns and horror movies.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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genre 
1770, from Fr. genre "kind, sort, style," from O.Fr. (see gender). Used especially in Fr. for "independent style," as compared to "landscape, historical," etc.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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