Definition of "grunge" []

• Slang Filth; dirt. (noun)
• Slang A style of rock music that incorporates elements of punk rock and heavy metal, popularized in the early 1990s and often marked by lyrics exhibiting nihilism, dissatisfaction, or apathy. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Though the film makes relatively few gestures toward contextualizing the band's place in the music of the '90s the band's members scorn the term grunge as a reductive buzzword, there are a few heartrending clips of The Most Dangerous Line of Latitude on the Planet Dana Stevens is Slate's movie critic."
• "Not once during these shows did the word grunge cross my mind."
• "Pearl Jam went on to surpass its 1990s contemporaries like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Nirvana, even as it transcended the label grunge."