coldwave

C3O1L1D2W4A1V4E1

noun

A European style of post-punk music in the 1980s.

Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nouncoldwave (uncountable)

alternative cold wave

  1. uncountableentertainmentA European style of post-punk music in the 1980s.

    Band member Azzedine Amrani reflects: “[…] Then, The Cure came to our ears; therefore we started to turn into coldwave music with brand new instruments [such as keyboards and drum machines]^([sic]).”

    2014, Andi Harriman, Marloes Bontje, Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: A Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s, Intellect Books, →ISBN, page 24
  2. USuncountableentertainmentThe industrial metal music genre in the 1990s.

    Modern industrial music subgenres and fusion-genres include EBM, futurepop, power-noise, aggrotech (terror-EBM), coldwave, elektro, dark-electro, and industrial-metal. Yes, it can be quite confusing.

    2007, Raven Digitalis, Goth Craft: The Magickal Side of Dark Culture, →ISBN, page 37

Origin

From cold + wave, perhaps influenced by earlier genres such as new wave and darkwave. In France the post-punk genre was called la vague froide.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

coldwave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coldwave

MLA

“coldwave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coldwave. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coldwave,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coldwave.

Source: coldwave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.