Dictionary

antimeme en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From anti- + meme. In the sense of "an image macro which intentionally subverts one's expectations", first recorded in 2009 and now chiefly associated with the r/antimeme subreddit, created February 8, 2012.

Meanings

1. A meme deployed to nullify or protect against another meme.
   • Notable as well are periodic claims that memetics will make the world a better place, by creating an antimeme meme which will teach us to defend ourselves against the ravages of the selfish memes, ... 2004, William F. Harms, Information and Meaning in Evolutionary Processes, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 65:
   • We have to start spreading antimemes.” “Fight fire with fire?” she said. 2010, Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind, Macmillan, →ISBN:
   • As an antimeme to both Christianity and these secular dominant ideologies, humanism in the West was, by the middle of the century able to gain dominance in what had become, effectively, a vacant niche. 2003, David Hurst, On Westernism: An Ideology's Bid for World Dominion:
   • I know it's every citizen's civic duty to keep his antimeme vaccinations up to date. But some perverse streak inside me (possibly, now that I think about it, an anti-antimeme meme) made me keep postponing my appointment until it was just too late. 1998, Christine Beckert, David Bischoff, Carroll Brown, et al., The Best of Pirate Writings: Tales of Fantasy, Mystery & Science Fiction, Padwolf Pub Incorporated, →ISBN:
2. A unit of information that prevents itself from being spread, either due to its contents, (e.g, a password or encrypted document,) or a secondary mechanism that prevents its transmission. (e.g, by erasing itself from any mind that it enters.)
   • SCP-055 is a "self-keeping secret" or "anti-meme". Information about SCP-055's physical appearance as well as its nature, behavior, and origins is self-classifying. 2008, Sam "qntm" Hughes, “SCP-055 - [unknown]”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division:
   • An antimeme is an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by its intrinsic nature, discourages or prevents people from spreading it. 2018, Sam "qntm" Hughes, There Is No Antimemetics Division:
3. (Internet) An image macro which intentionally subverts one's expectations by not including a joke; a meme antijoke.
   • my favorite parts of these viral memes are the antimemes that appear after we all get sick of them lol 2018 March 18, @rocknraymond, Twitter, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2023:

Forms

Deriveds

antimemetic · antimemetics

wikipedia: Reddit