Meanings
- uncountableShelving of library books or similar works based on genre.First known use since 2000s
Genrefication is pretty great. It allows users to find books they're interested in much more easily.
2017, Genrefication 101, page 201 more example
Under the Dewey Decimal System that revolutionized and standardized book shelving starting in 1876, nonfiction essentially already gets the genrefication treatment with, for example, Music located in the 780s and Paleontology in the 560s.
2018 July 22, “How Genrefication Makes School Libraries More Like Bookstores”, in KQED - uncountableSoftening of boundaries between literary fiction and genre fiction.First known use since 2014
The so-called ‘genrefication’ or ‘genre debate’ relates to the relationship between popular fiction and literary fiction, and has been of particular significance in US literary circles in recent years.
2016, Bernice M. Murphy, Key Concepts in Contemporary Popular Fiction1 more example
For reasons that aren’t fully explicable (Netflix? Tumblr? Kindles? Postmodernism?), it’s no longer taken for granted that important novels must be, in some sense, above, beyond, or “meta” about their genre. A process of genrefication is occurring.
2014 November 6, Joshua Rothman, “A Better Way To Think About the Genre Debate”, in The New Yorker
Origin
From genre + -fication. In the sense of softening boundaries, coined by Joshua Rothman in 2014.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
genrefication. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/genrefication
“genrefication.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/genrefication. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “genrefication,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/genrefication.
Source: genrefication on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.