genre

Pluralgenres

Formsgenres, genring, genred

1. 1
   kind of artnouncountable

   A category or class of artistic work (especially literature, film, or music) defined by shared style, form, or subject matter.

   Like a shelf label that tells you roughly what to expect before you open the book.

   Science fiction is the genre she returns to whenever she wants to imagine other worlds.

   Critics struggled to fit the album into any single genre.

   UsageSay a genre of film or music, sort by genre; cross-genre work mixes more than one.

   Similarcategory, type, style, kind, class

   Note

   Its edges are often contested. S. Alexander Reed's Assimilate (2013) observes that industrial music now stretches from gentle synthesized droning to metal-inspired riffage, to purists' chagrin. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • S. Alexander Reed wrote Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music, published in 2013. en.wikipedia.org
   • Reed describes industrial music's range from synthesized droning to metal-inspired riffage and some purists' displeasure. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   classifyverbtransitive

   To assign a creative work to a category, or to shape it so that it fits a particular one.

   Like deciding which aisle a product belongs in before stocking the shelves.

   In her thesis, she argues that early jazz recordings were genred by record companies more than by the musicians themselves.

   A story that is hard to genre can be tougher to sell, since agents want to know which shelf it belongs on.

   UsagePast genred; the -ing form is genring or genreing.

   Similarcategorize, classify, pigeonhole, label

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