mainstream

See also: Mainstream

English

Etymology

From main +‎ stream.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

mainstream (comparative more mainstream, superlative most mainstream)

1. Used or accepted broadly rather than by small portions of population, market, scientific community, etc.

   They often carry stories you won't find in the mainstream media.

   • 2011, Taner Edis, Science and Nonbelief, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 153:

     As unsubstantiated claims receive significant backing, skeptics and defenders of mainstream science enter the fray.

   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Aylesbury (2009)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 61:

     The mainstream media hones in on bad news stories where UK railways are concerned, yet gives scant attention to the many items of good news emerging from the network.

   • 2022 April 20, Rim-Sarah Alouane, “Marine Le Pen Is as Dangerous as Ever”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     If Ms. Le Pen looks more mainstream now, it’s because the mainstream looks more like her.

Usage notes

• Nouns often used with "mainstream": media, music, art, press, news, society, culture, economics, school, party, politics, religion, education, theory, science, philosophy, views

Synonyms

• (used or accepted broadly): common, usual, widespread, conventional

Antonyms

• fringe, nonmainstream, alternative

Derived terms

• blackstream
• fakestream
• lamestream
• malestream
• whitestream

Translations

used or accepted broadly; common, usual or conventional

• Bulgarian: преобладаващ (bg) (preobladavašt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主流的 (zh) (zhǔliú de)

• Czech: mainstreamový (cs)
• Esperanto: ĉefstila
• Finnish: valtavirtaa edustava, valtavirta (fi) (noun, attributively in genitive case, predicatively in partitive case), valtavirta-, valta-
• French: commercial (fr), conventionnel (fr)
• Galician: convencional (gl) m
• Georgian: ძირითადი მიმართულება (ʒiritadi mimartuleba), წამყვანი მიმართულება (c̣amq̇vani mimartuleba), გავრცელებული (gavrcelebuli), დამკვიდრებული (damḳvidrebuli), მეინსტრიმული (meinsṭrimuli) (colloquial)
• German: Mainstream- (de), etabliert (de), konventionell (de)
• Greek: κυρίαρχο ρεύμα n (kyríarcho révma), επικρατούσα τάση f (epikratoúsa tási)
• Hungarian: meghatározó (hu), irányadó (hu), fősodorbeli, fősodratú, főáramú, mainstream (hu)
• Indonesian: arus utama (id)
• Irish: lárshrutha, príomhshrutha
• Italian: virale (it) m, corrente (it), comune (it), convenzionale (it), conformista (it), prestabilito (it), tradizionale (it), flusso mediatico predominante
• Japanese: 主流 (ja) (shuryū)
• Malayalam: മുഖ്യധാര (mukhyadhāra)
• Maori: auraki
• Polish: mainstreamowy (pl)
• Portuguese: convencional (pt)
• Russian: мейнстри́мовый (ru) (mɛjnstrímovyj), мейнстри́мный (ru) (mɛjnstrímnyj), основно́й (ru) (osnovnój), магистра́льный (ru) (magistrálʹnyj)
• Spanish: normal (es), aceptado (es), tipico, cotidiano (es), convencional (es), hegemónico (es) m
• Ukrainian: мейнстри́мний m (mejnstrýmnyj)

Noun

mainstream (plural mainstreams)

1. The principal current in a flow, such as a river or flow of air
2. (usually with the) That which is common; the norm.

   ideas outside of the mainstream

   • 1988 September 30, Tom Wicker, quoting George H. W. Bush, “Ol' Man Mainstream”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     George Herbert Walker Bush of Phillips Andover Academy and Yale University proclaimed in the first Presidential candidates' debate that he was “in touch with the mainstream of America.”

   • 1991 July 14, Andrew Pollack, “A Quirky Loner Goes Mainstream”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Long content with being the BMW of the computer industry, suppying finely crafted machines to a relatively small number of fanatic customers, Apple now wants to become a Ford or Toyota, to move into the mainstream.

   • 2021 October 20, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 55:

     "Railways seldom slavishly followed styles to be seen in the mainstream of contemporary architecture," HE [Historic England] explains.

Translations

that which is common

• Bulgarian: преобладаваща тенденция f (preobladavašta tendencija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主流 (zh) (zhǔliú)

• Czech: hlavní proud m, mejnstrým m
• Finnish: valtavirta (fi)
• German: Hauptrichtung f, Mainstream (de) m
• Hungarian: fősodor (hu), mainstream (hu)
• Indonesian: arus utama (id)
• Japanese: 主流 (ja) (しゅりゅう, shuryū)
• Malay: arus perdana
• Polish: mainstream (pl) m
• Russian: основно́е направле́ние n (osnovnóje napravlénije), мейнстри́м (ru) m (mɛjnstrím)
• Spanish: común y corriente
• Swedish: strömfåra (sv) c

Verb

mainstream (third-person singular simple present mainstreams, present participle mainstreaming, simple past and past participle mainstreamed)

1. (transitive) To popularize, to normalize, to render mainstream.
   • 2011, Jeff Change, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, page 420:

     Just as the gang peace movement desired to mainstream hardcore bangers into civic society, The Chronic wanted to drive hardcore rap into the popstream.

2. (intransitive) To become mainstream.
   • 2013, Catherine L. Albanese, America: Religions and Religion, 5th edition, Boston: Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 262:

     In a nonchurch context, we can look more explicitly at formerly New Age practices to see if and how they have mainstreamed.

3. (transitive, education, chiefly US) To educate (a disabled student) together with non-disabled students.
   • 1985 April 14, Barbara Gerbasi, “Mainstreaming My Son”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN:

     Despite these beliefs, the decision to send my son to a regular school was not made easily. I didn't know of any child as disabled as he who had been mainstreamed.

Derived terms

• mainstream consciousness
• mainstreamer
• mainstreaming
• mainstreamism
• mainstreamist

 

References

• “mainstream”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “mainstream media”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English mainstream.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛjn.strim/
• Rhymes: -ɛjnstrim
• Syllabification: main‧stream

Noun

mainstream m inan (related adjective mainstreamowy)

1. mainstream (dominant way of thinking or the most popular form of action)
2. (jazz) mainstream jazz (term coined in the 1950s by music journalist Stanley Dance, who considered anything within the popular jazz of the Swing Era "mainstream", and did not include the bebop style)

Declension

Declension of mainstream

	singular
nominative	mainstream
genitive	mainstreamu
dative	mainstreamowi
accusative	mainstream
instrumental	mainstreamem
locative	mainstreamie
vocative	mainstreamie

Further reading

• mainstream in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mainstream in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• mainstream in PWN's encyclopedia

Spanish

Noun

mainstream m (plural mainstreams)

1. mainstream