"tech noir" meaning in English

See tech noir in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: tech noirs [plural], tech-noir [alternative]
Etymology: Blend of tech (“technology”) + film noir. From the close association of high tech with sci-fi. Folk etymology suggests this was coined by Canadian film director James Cameron, when he named the dance club in the 1984 film The Terminator "Tech-Noir", and the fandom and critics labelled similar IP properties as "tech noir". Etymology templates: {{blend|en|tech|film noir|gloss1=technology}} Blend of tech (“technology”) + film noir, {{coin|en|James Cameron|nat=Canadian|nocap=1|occ=film director}} coined by Canadian film director James Cameron Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} tech noir (countable and uncountable, plural tech noirs)
  1. (uncountable, film) A genre of film, science-fiction film-noir cinema. Tags: uncountable Hypernyms: noir Related terms: film noir, neo-noir, noir, tech, technology Coordinate_terms: apocalyptic, cyberpunk, dystopian, grimdark, neo-noir, post-apocalyptic, science fiction
    Sense id: en-tech_noir-en-noun-73e3Ff6x Categories (other): Film, English blends Disambiguation of English blends: 24 39 38 Topics: broadcasting, film, media, television
  2. (uncountable, fiction, by extension) A genre of fiction, thematically like that of the film genre. Tags: broadly, uncountable
    Sense id: en-tech_noir-en-noun-bSUXZeVD Categories (other): Fiction, English blends Disambiguation of English blends: 24 39 38 Topics: fiction, literature, media, publishing
  3. (countable) A work of fiction in that genre. Tags: countable
    Sense id: en-tech_noir-en-noun-ZVdZyJQW Categories (other): English blends, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English blends: 24 39 38 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 14 10 76 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 8 6 86 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 15 5 80

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tech",
        "3": "film noir",
        "gloss1": "technology"
      },
      "expansion": "Blend of tech (“technology”) + film noir",
      "name": "blend"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "James Cameron",
        "nat": "Canadian",
        "nocap": "1",
        "occ": "film director"
      },
      "expansion": "coined by Canadian film director James Cameron",
      "name": "coin"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Blend of tech (“technology”) + film noir. From the close association of high tech with sci-fi. Folk etymology suggests this was coined by Canadian film director James Cameron, when he named the dance club in the 1984 film The Terminator \"Tech-Noir\", and the fandom and critics labelled similar IP properties as \"tech noir\".",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "tech noirs",
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        "plural"
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    {
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      "args": {
        "1": "~"
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      "expansion": "tech noir (countable and uncountable, plural tech noirs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Film",
          "orig": "en:Film",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 39 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English blends",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "82 12 5",
          "word": "apocalyptic"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 12 5",
          "word": "cyberpunk"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 12 5",
          "word": "dystopian"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 12 5",
          "word": "grimdark"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 12 5",
          "word": "neo-noir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 12 5",
          "word": "post-apocalyptic"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 12 5",
          "word": "science fiction"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A genre of film, science-fiction film-noir cinema."
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "70 21 9",
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      ],
      "id": "en-tech_noir-en-noun-73e3Ff6x",
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        [
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          "film-noir",
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        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, film) A genre of film, science-fiction film-noir cinema."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "80 14 6",
          "word": "film noir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 14 6",
          "word": "neo-noir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 14 6",
          "word": "noir"
        },
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          "_dis1": "80 14 6",
          "word": "tech"
        },
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          "_dis1": "80 14 6",
          "word": "technology"
        }
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      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
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        "broadcasting",
        "film",
        "media",
        "television"
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        "A genre of fiction, thematically like that of the film genre."
      ],
      "id": "en-tech_noir-en-noun-bSUXZeVD",
      "links": [
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        "(uncountable, fiction, by extension) A genre of fiction, thematically like that of the film genre."
      ],
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        "broadly",
        "uncountable"
      ],
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        "fiction",
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    {
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          "_dis": "14 10 76",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "8 6 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "15 5 80",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        "A work of fiction in that genre."
      ],
      "id": "en-tech_noir-en-noun-ZVdZyJQW",
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        "(countable) A work of fiction in that genre."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tech noir"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English coinages",
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms coined by James Cameron",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "coordinate_terms": [
    {
      "word": "apocalyptic"
    },
    {
      "word": "cyberpunk"
    },
    {
      "word": "dystopian"
    },
    {
      "word": "grimdark"
    },
    {
      "word": "neo-noir"
    },
    {
      "word": "post-apocalyptic"
    },
    {
      "word": "science fiction"
    }
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      "name": "blend"
    },
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        "2": "James Cameron",
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        "occ": "film director"
      },
      "expansion": "coined by Canadian film director James Cameron",
      "name": "coin"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Blend of tech (“technology”) + film noir. From the close association of high tech with sci-fi. Folk etymology suggests this was coined by Canadian film director James Cameron, when he named the dance club in the 1984 film The Terminator \"Tech-Noir\", and the fandom and critics labelled similar IP properties as \"tech noir\".",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "tech noirs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tech-noir",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
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    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "~"
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      "expansion": "tech noir (countable and uncountable, plural tech noirs)",
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  ],
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    {
      "word": "noir"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "film noir"
    },
    {
      "word": "neo-noir"
    },
    {
      "word": "noir"
    },
    {
      "word": "tech"
    },
    {
      "word": "technology"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "en:Film"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A genre of film, science-fiction film-noir cinema."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "film",
          "film#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "genre",
          "genre#English"
        ],
        [
          "film",
          "film#English"
        ],
        [
          "science-fiction",
          "science fiction#English"
        ],
        [
          "film-noir",
          "film noir#English"
        ],
        [
          "cinema",
          "cinema#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, film) A genre of film, science-fiction film-noir cinema."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "broadcasting",
        "film",
        "media",
        "television"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "en:Fiction"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A genre of fiction, thematically like that of the film genre."
      ],
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          "fiction",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, fiction, by extension) A genre of fiction, thematically like that of the film genre."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "fiction",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A work of fiction in that genre."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable) A work of fiction in that genre."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tech noir"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.