Definition of "meme"

meme¹

/miːm/

noun
plural memes
1. (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.
  Quotations
  Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches.
  1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
  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, number 1, page 67
2. (Internet) Media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, such as basic pictures, video templates, etc.
  Quotations
  I do...but my journal is a mess. 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 idea was to append Keyboard Cat to the end of a blooper video to "play" that person offstage after a mistake or gaffe, like getting the hook in the days of vaudeville. 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
  Harlem Shake meme: the new Gangnam Style? [headline]
  2013 February 8, Tim Jonze, “Harlem Shake meme: the new Gangnam Style?”, in The Guardian‎
  Social networks produce inside jokes at a relentless pace. The best, worst, stupidest and funniest of those jokes become memes, and either you get them or you don’t.
  2017 December 15, Jonah Engel Bromwich, “Life on the Meme Council: Meet the Internet’s Gatekeepers”, in The New York Times‎
  He said that NFT sales had helped establish memes as a sophisticated art form and “serious pieces of culture.”
  2021 April 29, Marie Fazio, quoting Ben Lashes, “The World Knows Her as ‘Disaster Girl.’ She Just Made $500,000 Off the Meme.”, in The New York Times‎
3. (Internet) A specific instance of a meme, such as an image macro or a video, often with humorous superimposed text.
4. (Internet slang, derogatory) Something not to be taken seriously; a joke.
verb
third-person singular simple present memes, present participle meming or memeing, simple past and past participle memed
1. (intransitive, Internet slang) To create and use humorous memes.
  Quotations
  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!
2. (transitive, Internet slang) To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve a goal in real life.
  Quotations
  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 December 2, 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 December 2, 2017
  “Succession’s language is so specific, unique and captivating that nearly every line is worthy of being ‘memed’, even if it’s just somebody saying ‘fuck off’ or ‘bad tweet!’” she says.
  2022 September 22, Jess Thomson, “‘Becoming a meme totally helps a show’: is TV being written with epic gifs in mind?”, in The Guardian‎
3. (intransitive, Internet slang, by extension) To joke around.
  Quotations
  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 where kids increasingly get their first exposure to the world at large.”
  2018 December 13, Aja Romano, “YouTube’s most popular user amplified anti-Semitic rhetoric. Again.”, in Vox
  Some of his fellow fascists thought he was just “meming and pranking”; others dismissed it as “some autistic phase.”
  2019, Rachel Monroe, Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession

meme²

noun
plural memes
1. (informal, term of endearment) granny; nana
  Quotations
  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

Definition of "meme"

meme1

noun

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verb

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meme2

noun

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meme¹

meme²