metanarrative
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of metanarrative
C20: from meta- + 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.
The effect of the metanarrative is to juxtapose Byron’s violent passions with the careful, repressed behavior of one who hoped to capture him in literature.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025
Murphy’s work always tries to tease out a metanarrative about the American condition, whether the topic celebrates fame and glamor or indictment of our failings and excesses.
From Salon • Oct. 4, 2024
“The pacing, the way people are woven in, the central mystery that drives the narrative. A couple of times, I thought, ‘Wait a minute, is this all some kind of mockumentary metanarrative gotcha?’
From New York Times • Jul. 30, 2022
Characters could die in one episode and be fine in the next, all connected via a multiverse metanarrative as ambitious as anything attempted by Marvel or Rick and Morty.
From The Verge • Nov. 16, 2021
Ben, you also have a good point about the metanarrative around Cyberpunk.
From Slate • Dec. 23, 2020
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.
