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
The plot of this violent fairy tale is as noir and nasty as the characters.—Marilyn Stasio
Cite this Entry
“Noir.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noir. Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.
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