Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content.
  • noun A realistic style of painting that depicts scenes from everyday life.
  • noun A type or class.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Genus; kind; sort; style.
  • noun In painting, specifically, a representation of some phase of common life, as a domestic interior, a rural or village scene, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Kind; genus; class; form; style, esp. in literature.
  • noun (Fine Arts) A style of painting, sculpture, or other imitative art, which illustrates everyday life and manners.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A kind; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a kind of literary or artistic work
  • noun a class of art (or artistic endeavor) having a characteristic form or technique
  • noun a style of expressing yourself in writing
  • noun an expressive style of music

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, kind, from Latin genus, gener-; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French genre ("kind"), from Latin genus (cognate with Ancient Greek γένος (génos)), from Proto-Indo-European *genes-. Compare gender.

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