meme

M m

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [meem]
- /mim/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [meem]
- /mim/

Definitions of meme word

noun meme a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition and replication in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes. a cultural item in the form of an image, video, phrase, etc., that is spread via the Internet and often altered in a creative or humorous way. 1
verb without object meme to create and spread memes: He spends a lot of time memeing and sharing his videos with friends. 1
verb with object meme to make the subject of a meme: cute cats that get memed. 1
noun meme An element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation. 1
noun Technical meaning of meme (philosophy) /meem/ [By analogy with "gene"] Richard Dawkins's term for an idea considered as a replicator, especially with the connotation that memes parasitise people into propagating them much as viruses do. Memes can be considered the unit of cultural evolution. Ideas can evolve in a way analogous to biological evolution. Some ideas survive better than others; ideas can mutate through, for example, misunderstandings; and two ideas can recombine to produce a new idea involving elements of each parent idea. The term is used especially in the phrase "meme complex" denoting a group of mutually supporting memes that form an organised belief system, such as a religion. However, "meme" is often misused to mean "meme complex". Use of the term connotes acceptance of the idea that in humans (and presumably other tool- and language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has become more important than biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits. Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons. See also memetic algorithm. 1
countable noun meme A meme is something such as a video, picture, or phrase that a lot of people send to each other on the Internet. 0

See all 9 definitions of meme

Information block about the term

Origin of meme

First appearance:

before 1976

One of the 1% newest English words

First recorded in 1976, meme is from the Greek word mīmeîsthai ‘to imitate, copy’; coined by R. Dawkins, British biologist

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Meme

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Meme

meme popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 90% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

meme usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for meme

noun meme

trend — the general course or prevailing tendency; drift: trends in the teaching of foreign languages; the trend of events.
buzzword — A buzzword is a word or expression that has become fashionable in a particular field and is being used a lot by the media.
idea — any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity.
concept — A concept is an idea or abstract principle.
craze — If there is a craze for something, it is very popular for a short time.

All 10 Synonyms of meme

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