meme

noun

1. 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.

   “Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches.”

   “For most of the population, the media system is, I think, a different one. It's not just the case that it tries to entertain them. It tries to entertain them through memes, which will intensify attitudes that support the interests of elites.”

   “Related memes tend to form mutually supporting meme-complexes such as religions, political ideologies, scientific theories, and New Age dogmas.”

   “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.”

2. (Internet)Media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, such as basic pictures, video templates, etc.

   “He posted a meme that went viral within a few hours on social media.”

   “He stuck memes on the wall to campaign for the position of President.”

   “Not everyone saw the comparison to Nazis as a "meme" - most people on the Net, as elsewhere, had never heard of "memes" or "memetics." But now that we're living in an increasingly information-aware culture, it's time for that to change.”

   “I do...but my journal is a mess. It's mostly filled with memes and my bitching about a house I am building.”

   “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.”

3. (Internet)A specific instance of a meme, such as an image macro or a video, often with humorous superimposed text.

   “This meme generator lets you make your own memes by adding a caption to existing images, or by uploading your own image.”

   “I'm always posting memes on the groupchat.”

4. (Internet, derogatory)Something which is deceptive; a trick, a ruse.

   “It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.”

   “I can't believe I fell for the bulking meme.”

5. (Internet, derogatory)Something not to be taken seriously; a joke.

   “It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.”

   “Jogging is a meme.”

6. (Internet)A work produced and shared in response to a prompt or suggestion within an online group.

   “kink meme”

   “anon meme”

7. (informal)granny; nana

   “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.”

   “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.”

verb

1. (Internet, intransitive)To create and use humorous memes.

   “Yesterday afternoon four kids went to the hospital for injuries resulting from memeing in front of a local cafe. Faith Hilling, Taylor Swifting. These are things that will get you killed!”

   “One axiom commonly seen on /pol/ is "The Left Can't Meme"; in other words, left-wing meme jokes aren't funny.”

2. (Internet, transitive)To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve a goal in real life.

   “Scott Greer, a deputy editor of the Daily Caller, tweeted, “Cernovich memed #SickHillary into reality. Never doubt the power of memes.””

   “David Moyes succeeding Slaven Bilić as West Ham United manager is being memed into existence by the internet, Football Burp understands.”

   ““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.”

   “In my experience the films that typically get memed are either really terrible (Madame Web), so huge that they’re everywhere (Barbie), or have a cast stacked with familiar faces so the memes cast a wide net for potential sharing.”

3. (Internet, broadly, intransitive)To joke around.

   “actually, it wasn't my mental functioning. i'm just meming.”

   ““[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.””

   “Some of his fellow fascists thought he was just “meming and pranking”; others dismissed it as “some autistic phase.””