# Generation X

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˌdʒɛnəɹeɪʃn̩ ˈɛks/

## Definitions
1. A generation of people whose future is uncertain; a lost generation.
2. The generation of people born after the baby boom that followed World War II, especially those born from the mid 1960s to early 1980s, sometimes characterized as cynical, disaffected, lacking direction in life, and unwilling to take part fully in society.

## Etymology
Compound of generation + X (used to represent an unknown quantity or unknown value). Sense 2 (“the post-baby boom generation”) was popularized by the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (1991) by the Canadian author and artist Douglas Coupland (born 1961).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/generation-x