meme
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of meme
First recorded in 1976; coined by British evolutionary biologist C. Richard Dawkins (born 1941), shortening of Dawkins's original creation mimeme, which was based on Greek mī́mēma “imitation, copy; artistic representation,” but which Dawkins also wanted to look and sound like gene; cf. mimesis ( def. )
Explanation
A meme is an idea or habit that's passed between people and generations through imitation. An example of a meme is the cultural tradition of women wearing skirts. A cultural idea, value, habit, or even something like a tune is a meme if it is picked up from someone else. A meme, which is pronounced "meem," will change over time, like younger kids who want to wear the exact same clothes but who eventually develop their own, though similar, styles. Recently, meme has become commonly used to refer to Internet memes — pictures, videos, or even slang words that are shared between Internet users.
Vocabulary lists containing meme
The Hate U Give
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The Poet X
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This Week in Pop Culture: December 8 -14, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Former Reddit darling Hertz falls as Wendy’s takes up the meme stock mantle.
From Slate • Jun. 27, 2026
There is an AI-generated meme doing the rounds on social media in Italy that shows Giorgia Meloni doing all the things you might expect from someone fresh out of a tough break-up.
From BBC • Jun. 26, 2026
The Padres, the team that put up a meme of Clayton Kershaw crying on the video board.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026
Wendy’s looks to be trading like a meme stock, powered higher by social-media hype rather than its underlying fundamentals.
From Barron's • Jun. 25, 2026
He hadn’t intended for us to wither into desiccated husks in front of brightly lit screens that leeched away our summer days one meme at a time.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
