: generation x
Gen X managed to stretch adolescence beyond all previous limits: Its members started becoming adults earlier and finished becoming adults later.—Jean M. Twenge
—often used before another nouna Gen X celebrity
—often hyphenated in such use… 'The Blair Witch Project,' a stealth blockbuster with clever Internet marketing and so much Gen-X appeal that it's spooking Hollywood.—Newsweek
Gen Xer
noun
or Gen-Xer
plural Gen Xers or Gen-Xers
… only about 56 percent of high-school seniors in 2015 went out on dates; for Boomers and Gen Xers, the number was about 85 percent.
—Jean M. Twenge
Like many Gen-Xers, I remember childhood as an uncomplicated time when the only thing you had to worry about was being home by dark.
—Bethany Young Hardy
Cite this Entry
“Gen X.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Gen%20X. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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