self-reference
Americannoun
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reference made to oneself, to one's own character or experience, or to a group with which one identifies.
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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
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.
Leaving aside the self-reference and winks at the audience, the director instead tells this highly metafictional story in a dozen docu-realistic vignettes, revealing the alienation of urban life and the cruelty of men.
From New York Times • Sep. 13, 2022
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
As with the first movie, “Double Tap” is filled with winking self-reference and likable characters — including winning turns by series newcomers Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 18, 2020
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
An element of self-reference arises when economic policy uses economic theory itself, so that theory should include theory.
From Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy by Colignatus, Thomas
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.
