hipsters: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

Hippies were a 1960s-70s counterculture focused on peace, love, and spiritualism, often associated with long hair, psychedelics, and rural communes. Hipsters are a 21st-century urban subculture focused on curated, often ironic consumption (fashion, food, music) and are seen as more individualistic and style-conscious.

It is primarily neutral or descriptive but is very frequently used with a negative or ironic connotation to imply pretentiousness, trend-chasing, or a lack of authenticity. Calling someone a 'hipster' to their face is often perceived as an insult.

While the peak of the 'hipster' label was in the 2000s-early 2010s, the aesthetic and consumer behaviours associated with it have been absorbed into mainstream culture. The term is used less now but remains a useful descriptor for a specific urban cultural archetype.

In UK fashion retail, 'hipsters' refers to trousers, jeans, or underwear (especially for women) that are cut to sit on the hips, below the navel, as opposed to on the waist. This is distinct from the subcultural meaning.

A modern subculture or social group (often young, urban, educated) characterized by a self-conscious rejection of mainstream fashion, culture, and consumerism, often embracing independent, alternative, or vintage styles, music, and artisanal goods.

Hipsters is usually informal, journalistic, often used pejoratively or with irony in register.

Hipsters: in British English it is pronounced /ˈhɪp.stəz/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˈhɪp.stɚz/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.