William GrugerAnastasia ThriftRichard DawkinsSam Leith
Did you know?
In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, British scientist Richard Dawkins defended his newly coined word meme, which he defined as "a unit of cultural transmission." Having first considered, then rejected, mimeme, he wrote: "Mimeme comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like gene." (The suitable Greek root was mim-, meaning "mime" or "mimic." The English suffix -eme indicates a distinctive unit of language structure, as in grapheme, lexeme, and phoneme.) Like any good meme, meme caught on and evolved, eventually developing the meaning known to anyone who spends time online, where it's most often used to refer to any one of those silly captioned photos that the Internet can't seem to get enough of.
Examples of meme in a Sentence
Emma Specter, Vogue, 5 Jan. 2026
Trump’s photo of Maduro also launched a flood of memes, including images apparently generated by AI that show the dictator wearing Nike clothes while dancing, singing and playing video games.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2026
His ever-glowering face on the sideline has sparked countless memes and has come to personify the sharp-eyed, no-nonsense manner in which these Hoosiers have rocketed through the sport in just two seasons.
—Greg Beacham, Chicago Tribune, 3 Jan. 2026
Last year was filled with memorable trends, memes and phrases, some of which were built to last and others that may be better off forgotten.
—Michelle Del Rey, USA Today, 2 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for meme
Cite this Entry
“Meme.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme. Accessed 6 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
meme
noun
Share