Download the app
educalingo
Search
Any time you try to create an Internet meme, automatic fail. That's like the worst thing you can do.
John Hodgman

Meaning of "meme" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD MEME

Possibly from mimic, on the model of gene.
info
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsapp
section

PRONUNCIATION OF MEME

meme  [miːm] play
facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsapp

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF MEME

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Meme is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES MEME MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Meme

A meme is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures. The word meme is a shortening of mimeme and it was coined by the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, fashion, and the technology of building arches. Proponents theorize that memes may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influence a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts.

Definition of meme in the English dictionary

The definition of meme in the dictionary is an idea or element of social behaviour passed on through generations in a culture, esp by imitation.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH MEME


beam
biːm
breme
briːm
cream
kriːm
downstream
ˈdaʊnˈstriːm
dream
driːm
esteem
ɪˈstiːm
extreme
ɪkˈstriːm
hakim
hɑːˈkiːm
mainstream
ˈmeɪnˌstriːm
neem
niːm
redeem
rɪˈdiːm
regime
reɪˈʒiːm
scheme
skiːm
scream
skriːm
seem
siːm
steam
stiːm
stream
striːm
supreme
sʊˈpriːm
team
tiːm
theme
θiːm

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE MEME

membral
membranaceous
membranal
membrane
membrane bone
membrane transport
membraned
membraneous
membranous
membranously
Memel
memento
memento mori
memetics
Memlinc
Memling
Memnon
Memnonian
memo
memo pad

WORDS THAT END LIKE MEME

academe
bireme
bonus scheme
careme
color scheme
colour scheme
deme
feme
grapheme
heme
housing scheme
incentive scheme
insurance scheme
Kurzeme
morpheme
pension scheme
pilot scheme
Ponzi scheme
queme
seme

Synonyms and antonyms of meme in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «meme» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF MEME

Find out the translation of meme to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of meme from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «meme» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

米姆
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

meme
570 millions of speakers

English

meme
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

मेम
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

ميمي
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

мем
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

meme
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

মেমে
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

meme
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Meme
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

meme
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

ミーム
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Meme
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

meme
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

நினைவு
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

मे ते
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

meme
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

meme
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

meme
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

мем
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

meme
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

meme
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

meme
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

meme
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

meme
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of meme

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «MEME»

The term «meme» is very widely used and occupies the 5.615 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Very widely used
98
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «meme» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of meme
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «meme».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «MEME» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «meme» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «meme» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about meme

EXAMPLES

3 QUOTES WITH «MEME»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word meme.
1
Tina Brown
The no-secrets era of social media makes one consider the built-in risk factor of nominating high-testosterone men to positions of power at all. Everyone is under too much scrutiny now to take a chance on candidates who suddenly blow up into a comic meme, a punchline, a ribald hashtag.
2
John Hodgman
Any time you try to create an Internet meme, automatic fail. That's like the worst thing you can do.
3
Theo Jansen
The Strandbeest is a self-replicating meme, a brain virus. It infects the student's brain. In fact, the Strandbeest abuse students for their reproduction. For two years, this reproduction fell into a flow acceleration. Now, 3D printers produce walking mini Strandbeests.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «MEME»

Discover the use of meme in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to meme and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Meme Machine
These are all memes, a term first coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene.
Susan Blackmore, 2000
2
Father Meme
The reluctance of the Catholic Church to punish pedophile priests is dramatized in this modern fable of sin, sacrifice, and survivance in a Native American mission in Minnesota.
Gerald Robert Vizenor, 2008
3
Meme
One read, and the meme “Should I stay or should I go?” will be altered in your head forever.
Susan Wheeler, 2012
4
The Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think
What is the biological reality of an idea with a life of its own? What is a thought gene? It's a meme. And no one before Robert Aunger has established what it physically must be.
Robert Aunger, 2013
5
Meme
Meme pits science agains the supernatural in a final battle that can only end with the truth.
Sean Sinjin, 2004
6
Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme
In Virus of the Mind, Richard Brodie carefully builds on the work of scientists Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and others who have become fascinated with memes and their potential impact on our lives.
Richard Brodie, 2009
7
The Selfish Meme: A Critical Reassessment
Presents for the first time a fully developed and workable concept of cultural DNA.
Kate Distin, 2005
8
Meme Wars: The Creative Destruction of Neoclassical Economics
In 2011, they instigated Occupy Wall Street, sparking a huge international movement.Now Kalle Lasn, editor and founder of Adbusters, brings us this thought provoking book, which provides the building blocks, in texts and visuals, for a new ...
Kalle Lasn, Adbusters, Darren Fleet, 2012
9
Living on A Meme: How Anti-Corporate Activists Bend the ...
And others. Learn how activists bend perceptions of business and get people to live on the activists' meme. Gain a better understanding of how living on their meme isn't really in the public's, your employer's, or your best interest.
Richard Telofski, 2012
10
Meme Media and Meme Market Architectures: Knowledge Media ...
"In this book, Yuzuru Tanaka proposes a powerful new paradigm: that knowledge media, or "memes," operate in a way that closely resembles the biological function of genes, with their network publishing repository working as a gene pool to ...
Yuzuru Tanaka, 2003

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «MEME»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term meme is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Celebrate the Windows 10 'ninjacat' meme with new Microsoft …
We were fortunately able to connect with Jason [Heuser, the author of the original 'Welcome to the Internet” meme) and wanted to give him ... «PCWorld, Jul 15»
2
Meme: "Xena" Not Being Rebooted By NBC, Michael Sam Parties …
Meme: “Xena” Not Being Rebooted By NBC, Michael Sam Parties Like A Single Man In Hollywood, Sir Ian Asked Colleague For Advice On Sex ... «TheBacklot, Jul 15»
3
Dog protecting kitten from thunderstorm gets meme treatment - Yahoo!
Although all three images are heart-warming, one has exploded into the latest meme. It's been dubbed the “overly excited dog” and its been ... «Yahoo News Canada, Jul 15»
4
Name Meme - The Hub
booties The name 'Jennifer' offers “a window into the subconscious of our country,” writes Jo Craven McGinty in The Wall Street Journal ... «The Hub Magazine, Jul 15»
5
Sanders hit by #BernieSoBlack meme - Reuters
Sanders hit by #BernieSoBlack meme. By Lena Masri. July 20, 2015. Sanders at a rally in Texas. REUTERS/Mike Stone. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' visit on ... «Reuters UK, Jul 15»
6
Mick Fanning strikes meme gold - Eastern Cape | IOL News
Mick Fanning strikes meme gold. July 20 2015 at 03:45pm. By Matthew van Schalkwyk Comment on this story. iol spt july18 Fanning-Shark Reuters Australian ... «Independent Online, Jul 15»
7
Meme: One Direction Heading For Hiatus, Scott Walker Isn't Sure …
Scott Walker isn't sure if being gay is a choice or not. “I don't have an opinion on every single issue out there. I mean, to me, that's, I don't know. «TheBacklot, Jul 15»
8
Hovering Clint Dempsey is your new favorite meme
Photo: Rob Carr - Getty Images. Clint Dempsey caught air after his third goal against Cuba as the USMNT cruised to a win in the Gold Cup. «SB Nation, Jul 15»
9
Meme alert: Twitter reacts to the Queen's Nazi salute in the only way …
Traditionally Brits have been known to queue and moan – in the 21st Century, however, we tweet and meme. And, as the world pokes fun at ... «Mirror.co.uk, Jul 15»
10
Meme: Tom Daley Was Always Attracted To Guys, Aydian Dowling …
Meme: Tom Daley Was Always Attracted To Guys, Aydian Dowling Makes “Men's Health” Top Ten, Ianto Jones Joins Torchwood Audio Series. «TheBacklot, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Meme [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/meme>. Apr 2024 ».
Download the educalingo app
en
English dictionary
Discover all that is hidden in the words on
index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z