Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a motion picture with an often grim urban setting, photographed in somber tones and permeated by a feeling of disillusionment, pessimism, and despair.
noun
- a gangster thriller, made esp in the 1940s in Hollywood characterized by contrasty lighting and often somewhat impenetrable plots
1958, from French, literally “black film,” from noir (12c.), from Latin niger (see Negro).