metacognitive

American  

[met-uh-kog-ni-tiv] / ˌmɛt əˈkɒg nɪ tɪv /

adjective

1. having to do with metacognition, high-level thinking that enables understanding.

   The students are disengaged from the curriculum, and they have not gained a metacognitive understanding of the material.

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Etymology

Origin of metacognitive

meta- + cognitive ( def. )

Example Sentences

They show working memory and metacognitive monitoring, the ability to track and reflect on their own thought processes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 25, 2025

These observations suggested that familial environment was more likely to influence metacognitive abilities than genetics.

From Science Daily • Apr. 18, 2024

These cognitive behavioral therapies and metacognitive approaches to understanding behaviors often do that sort of thing.

From Salon • Oct. 15, 2023

Having an idea, composing it into language, and checking to see whether that language matches our original idea is a metacognitive process that changes us.

From Slate • Feb. 3, 2023

From a metacognitive frame, we can critically assess our thought process, become skeptical of our gut reactions and intuitions, and reconsider our cognitive tendencies and biases.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022