new wave

adjective

Representing the latest and most advanced style.

Similar
trendyfaddishnew waveNouvelle Vagueavant-gardevanguardvan
OriginFrench Nouvelle Vague →
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Meanings

new wave1

adjectivenew wave (comparative more new wave, superlative most new wave)

comparative more new wave · superlative most new wave

  1. Representing the latest and most advanced style.

    That girl is pretty wild now / The girl's a super freak / The kind of girl you read about / In new wave magazines

    1981 August 28, Rick James, Alonzo Miller, “Super Freak” (track 5), in Street Songs, performed by Rick James

    Synonyms: trendy, faddish

nounnew wave (uncountable)
  1. uncountableentertainmentAn alternative and broad pop and rock music genre that existed during the late 1970s and the early to mid-1980s, incorporating punk sensibilities and/or other forms of music, but made with more accessibility.

    New York to east California / There's a new wave coming, I warn ya

    1981, “Kids in America”, performed by Kim Wilde

New Wave2

nounNew Wave (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAny of several movements in music and film which are or were considered cutting edge.

    Synonyms: new wave

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveRepresenting the latest and most advanced style.

Similar
trendyfaddish

nounAny of several movements in music and film which are or were considered cutting edge.

Similar
new wave

More synonyms by meaning

nounan art movement in French cinema in the 1960s

Similar
Nouvelle Vague
Broader
artistic movementart movement

nounany creative group active in the innovation and application of new concepts and techniques in a given field (especially in the arts)

Similar
avant-gardevanguardvan
Broader
artistic movementart movement
Also see
avant-gardenew wavenouvelle vaguevanvanguard

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. FrenchNouvelle Vague
  2. EnglishNew Wave

Calque of French Nouvelle Vague.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

new wave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/new%20wave

MLA

“new wave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/new%20wave. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “new wave,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/new%20wave.

Source: new wave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.