diegetic
Americanadjective
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(of a story) told by a narrator.
Interspersed throughout the movie are diegetic scenes in which the offscreen present-day protagonist comments—usually scathingly—on the behavior of his former self.
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happening within or being the created world of a story.
Diegetic sound—the creaking timbers of a ship at sea, the cries of gulls on the beach—pulls the viewer into the world of the movie.
In the Marvel cinematic universe, multiple separate superhero films take place within a single diegetic world.
Etymology
Origin of diegetic
First recorded in 1895–1900; from Greek diēgētikόs “(pertaining to a) narrative”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Every body slap and stomp is part of the rhythm and the music of it, because it couldn’t just be where diegetic audio fades out and then there’s this great, wonderful piece.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2025
The show’s music producer, George Drakoulias, is a master of the flawless diegetic needle drop, as when Mark S. finishes his seemingly endless project to the sound of The Alan Parsons Project’s banger “Sirius.”
From Salon ● Dec. 14, 2025
That’s apparent in “Mean Girls,” which seems lightly embarrassed by any number that can’t be rendered diegetic or discounted as a dream sequence.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
Finding this market also enabled Farhadi, known for dispensing with musical scores, to feature atmospheric diegetic music during an unnerving plot point, since one of the stores sold musical instruments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
Transferring any story from screen to stage is a big lift, and the addition of diegetic music—the dreaded-by-some “people randomly bursting into song” effect—raises the degree of difficulty even higher.
From Slate ● May 21, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
