meta

pertaining to or noting a story, conversation, character, etc., that consciously references or comments upon its own subject or features, often in the form of parody: A movie about making a movie is just so meta—especially when the actors criticize the acting.

pertaining to or noting an abstract, high-level analysis or commentary, especially one that consciously references something of its own type.

a consciously and playfully self-referential story, conversation, etc.: That dialogue was an example of meta at its best.

an abstract, high-level analysis or commentary: writing a meta to explain the character’s motivation.

to analyze or comment on something in a meta way: I spend more time metaing about the show than actually watching it.

(in ancient Rome) a column or post, or a group of columns or posts, placed at each end of a racetrack to mark the turning places.

pertaining to or occupying two positions (1, 3) in the benzene ring that are separated by one carbon atom.

a female given name.

a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, with the meanings “after,” “along with,” “beyond,” “among,” “behind,” and productive in English on the Greek model: metacarpus; metagenesis.

a prefix added to the name of a subject and designating another subject that analyzes the original one but at a more abstract, higher level: metaphilosophy; metalinguistics.

a river in Colombia, rising in the Andes and flowing northeast and east, forming part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela, to join the Orinoco River. Length: about 1000 km (620 miles)

indicating change, alteration, or alternation: metabolism; metamorphosis

(of an academic discipline, esp philosophy) concerned with the concepts and results of the named discipline: metamathematics; meta-ethics See also metatheory