meme

/miːm/

meme noun: any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.

Noun (1)

meme (plural memes)

(originally) Any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.
- Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches.1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
- For most of the population, the media system is, I think, a different one. It's not just the case that it tries to entertain them. It tries to entertain them through memes, which will intensify attitudes that support the interests of elites.1988, Noam Chomsky, Massey Lectures (Necessary Illusions)
Synonyms:

culturgen
(Internet) Media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, such as basic pictures, video templates, etc.
- He posted a meme that went viral within a few hours on social media.
- He stuck memes on the wall to campaign for the position of President.
(Internet) A specific instance of a meme, such as an image macro or a video, often with humorous superimposed text.
- This meme generator lets you make your own memes by adding a caption to existing images, or by uploading your own image.
- I'm always posting memes on the groupchat.
(Internet, derogatory) Something which is deceptive; a trick, a ruse.
- It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.
- I can't believe I fell for the bulking meme.
(Internet, derogatory) Something not to be taken seriously; a joke.
- It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.
- Jogging is a meme.
(Internet) A work produced and shared in response to a prompt or suggestion within an online group.
- kink meme
- anon meme

Verb

meme (third-person singular simple present memes, present participle memeing or meming, simple past and past participle memed)

(Internet, intransitive) To create and use humorous memes.
- Yesterday afternoon four kids went to the hospital for injuries resulting from memeing in front of a local cafe. Faith Hilling, Taylor Swifting. These are things that will get you killed!2012 March 28, Trey Parker, “Faith Hilling”, in South Park, season 16, episode 3, spoken by Lamont
- One axiom commonly seen on /pol/ is "The Left Can't Meme"; in other words, left-wing meme jokes aren't funny.2018, Eric W. Saeger, Russian Nazi Troll Bots!
(Internet, transitive) To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve a goal in real life.
- Scott Greer, a deputy editor of the Daily Caller, tweeted, “Cernovich memed #SickHillary into reality. Never doubt the power of memes.”2016 October 31, Andrew Marantz, “Trolls for Trump”, in The New Yorker, retrieved 02 Dec 2017
- David Moyes succeeding Slaven Bilić as West Ham United manager is being memed into existence by the internet, Football Burp understands.2017 November 6, “David Moyes to West Ham “memed into existence by the internet””, in Football Burp, retrieved 02 Dec 2017
Synonyms:

memeify
(Internet, broadly, intransitive) To joke around.
- actually, it wasn't my mental functioning. i'm just meming.2004 May 17, you, “Truth vs. Lies”, in alt.slack (Usenet)
- “[P]ewdiepie is, once again, doing exactly what neo-nazis want,” Kotaku reporter Nathan Grayson commented on Twitter in response to the incident. “[W]hether he’s just meming or he ascribes to these values, it doesn’t matter. [W]hat matters is that he normalizes these ideas as jokes on THE platform...2018 December 13, Aja Romano, “YouTube’s most popular user amplified anti-Semitic rhetoric. Again.”, in Vox

Noun (2)

meme (plural memes)

(informal, term of endearment) Granny; nana.
- When my parents got a divorce my dad washed his hands of my mom and me. He just pretended neither she nor I existed. If it weren't for my Meme, I would have lost all contact with the Atwood family after the divorce.2011, David G. Atwood II, Into Hell I Rode, page 32
- Then there was my Meme, my father's mother. She was one of the most wonderful, loving, craziest, funniest people I ever had in my life.2014, Sarah O'Malley, Touching the Edge of Heaven, page 3

meme meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

meme in Hindi

unit of cultural information: मीम mīm
media copied and circulated online: मीम mīm

meme in Tamil

மீமி, போன்மி, படப்பகடி, நகைப்படம், தொடர்வினை

meme in Marathi

मेमे

meme in Urdu

a meme: لطیفہ latīfa

More languagesFewer languages

meme in Bengali: মিম, মেমে, মিমে
meme in Telugu: మీమ్, మెమె
meme in Malayalam: മെമെ, മീമെ
meme in Kannada: ಮೀಮ್, ಮೀಮೆ, ಮೆಮೆ
meme in Punjabi: ਮੀਮ, ਮੀਮ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
meme in Gujarati: મીમ, મેમે
meme in Odia: ମିମ୍, ମିମ, ମେମ୍
meme in Nepali: मीम, मेमे, मेमे गर्न
meme in Arabic: مِيم mīm, م mīm, ميمي mīmī
meme in Indonesian: meme
meme in Thai: มีม miim

Examples of meme in a sentence

Related memes tend to form mutually supporting meme-complexes such as religions, political ideologies, scientific theories, and New Age dogmas.2002, Rita Carter, Exploring Consciousness, page 242:
The original Hobson and Jobson stock comic characters have died out as a meme, as has the application of their names to the Muharram in India.2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At ‘Hobson-Jobson’”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27...
It's mostly filled with memes and my bitching about a house I am building.2005, darklily, “OT: Livejournal”, in soc.sexuality.general (Usenet):
The meme became popular, Ashton Kutcher tweeted about it to more than 1 million followers, and more than 4,000 such videos have now been made.2012, Greg Jarboe, You Tube and Video Marketing, 2nd edition:

All 40 example sentences with meme

Synonyms of meme

Forms of meme

Noun
plural	memes
Verb
third-person singular present	memes
present participle	memeing
present participle	meming
past participle	memed
past	memed

Plural of meme: memes

Origin of meme

Clipping of mimeme, equivalent to mime + -eme. Coined by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene. Shortened (after gene) from mimeme (compare English phoneme), anglicized as if from a noun derived from Ancient Greek μῑμέομαι (mīméomai) with the deverbal suffix -μα (-ma), from μῖμος (mîmos, “imitation, copy”). The concept was later applied to the Internet by Mike Godwin.

From French mémé (“granny”).

Words formed from meme

Phrases with meme

Words that rhyme with meme

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about meme

What does meme mean?: Meme means any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.
What is meme in Hindi?: Meme in Hindi is मीम (mīm). See Meme meaning in Hindi.
How do you use meme in a sentence?: Related memes tend to form mutually supporting meme-complexes such as religions, political ideologies, scientific theories, and New Age dogmas.
What part of speech is meme?: Meme can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce meme?: Meme is pronounced /miːm/.
What is the plural of meme?: The plural of meme is memes.

Words near meme in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-meme.ogg.

Cite this entry: “meme.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/meme. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.