1
: crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings
an example of classic noir
2
: film noir
a comedy dressed in the trappings of an edgy noir
: having a bleak and darkly cynical quality of the kind associated with hard-boiled crime fiction and film noir
a noir thriller
In this boldly styled first novel, Komarnicki follows a 30-year-old homeless man on a noir odyssey of death and survival through the streets of New Orleans and Hong Kong.—
Sybil S. Steinberg
Sybil S. SteinbergThe plot of this violent fairy tale is as noir and nasty as the characters.—Marilyn Stasio
Marilyn StasioExamples of noir in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 22 Jan. 2025
Few filmmakers grasped the complexities of Los Angeles better than Lynch did and fewer still seemed so at home with its distinct, otherworldly mix of beauty and disaster, sunshine and noir.
—Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
Joey Morona, cleveland, 29 Nov. 2022
There are a lot of familiar genre elements, in terms of neo-noir detective stories, as well as classic vigilante superhero stories.
—Hazlitt, 21 July 2022
See all Example Sentences for noir 
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Noun
Fresh off her star-making turn in the smash hit Gilda, Rita Hayworth was cast in another quintessential noir of the forties, this one directed by none other than her then-husband Orson Welles.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 22 Jan. 2025
Few filmmakers grasped the complexities of Los Angeles better than Lynch did and fewer still seemed so at home with its distinct, otherworldly mix of beauty and disaster, sunshine and noir.
—Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
From there, the film goes off the rails in a noir-ish third act as both Jack and Babbette are sent over the edge and driven to acts of desperation.
—Joey Morona, cleveland, 29 Nov. 2022
There are a lot of familiar genre elements, in terms of neo-noir detective stories, as well as classic vigilante superhero stories.
—Hazlitt, 21 July 2022
See all Example Sentences for noir
Dictionary Entries Near noir
Cite this Entry
“Noir.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noir. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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