Indie

//ˈɪndi// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An independent publisher. countable

    "He says Ninja Tune retains the master and publishing rights on most of its catalog, making it easy to license quickly. Yet as majors jump on the videogame bandwagon, he fears indies may lose that outlet."

  2. 2
    an independent film company not associated with an established studio wordnet
  3. 3
    A work released by an independent publisher. countable
  4. 4
    a pop group not affiliated with a major record company wordnet
  5. 5
    A type of rock music, generally soft-style without screaming or aggression, mixed with synthesized music and electronic. uncountable
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  1. 6
    A person who listens to indie music and follows indie fashion. countable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Independent; from outside the mainstream. not-comparable

    "an indie pop group"

Adjective
  1. 1
    (of pop groups) not affiliated with a major recording company wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of Indy (“the Independent newspaper”). alt-of, alternative

Synonyms

All synonyms
independent

Example

More examples

"The Seattle-based outfit plays indie rock and electronic music."

Etymology

From independent, by shortening, + -ie. Used of popular music since the 1980s, and of cinema for some decades before that.

Related phrases

indie folkindie popindie pressindie rockindie-likelandfill indie

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.