self-reference

American  

[self-ref-er-uhns, -ref-ruhns] / ˈsɛlfˈrɛf ər əns, -ˈrɛf rəns /

noun

1. reference made to oneself, to one's own character or experience, or to a group with which one identifies.

2. Logic. the property of a statement that is a statement about itself, as “This statement is grammatical.”

---

Sensitive Note

Social, ethnic, or other groups often use terms of self-reference in a neutral, even affectionate or jocular way, much like nicknames. These self-referential terms function to reinforce solidarity among members of the group. However, when used by outsiders, these very same terms are perceived as offensive by those who belong to the group. Examples of self-referential terms are Canuck, chick, dyke, geek, nigger, queer.

Other Word Forms

• self-referential
  adjective
• self-referring
  adjective
• self-referentially
  adverb

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

self-reference

Gokavi wrote back then about Freeman’s capacity to wink, about his chronic but unserious self-reference as “The Deuce,” an homage to his jersey number.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 2, 2022

And each iteration of “Irma Vep” brings additional, increasingly complex ripples of self-reference.

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2022

A truly fascinating man, Angleton was a devoted student of the matchless British literary critic William Empson, who descried, in the densely metaphoric poems of Donne and Shakespeare, patterns of subtle contradiction, self-reference, and ambiguity.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 26, 2019

Poetic self-reference matters more than strict consistency, attitude more than mythology.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2018

Before becoming what many readers have regarded as only the expression of the poetics of self-reference, the experience of concrete poetry attempted to make poetry visual, musical, or even tactile.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin