subtext

[suhb-tekst]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR subtext ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the underlying or implicit meaning, as of a literary work.

Origin of subtext

1945–50; translation of Russian podtékst; see sub-, text

Related formssub·tex·tu·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for subtext

connotation, implication, association, coloring, hint, nuance, undertone, meaning, understanding

Examples from the Web for subtext

Contemporary Examples of subtext

The subtext of the clown is that life is a joke and can be snatched away at any moment.
Nightmares in Face Paint: Why We’ll Always Be Afraid of Clowns
Oliver Jones
October 18, 2014
And the subtext to that remark, just in case you missed it, is: and neither should he!
How the Queen ‘Purred’ With Pleasure at Scottish Referendum Result
Tom Sykes
September 23, 2014
Linthicum did not speak of racial unity among whites, but that was the subtext.
Star-Spangled Confederates: How Southern Sympathizers Decided Our National Anthem
Jefferson Morley
July 4, 2013
But the subtext here is that many commentators and officeholders need targets.
Trash Talk Returns as Pols, Pundits Point Fingers Over Boston Bombing
Howard Kurtz
April 24, 2013
There is often a subtext to this correspondence of literary lions.
Joseph Roth’s Letters Reveal a Great Forgotten Writer
Anthony Heilbut
February 10, 2012

British Dictionary definitions for subtext

subtext

noun

an underlying theme in a piece of writing

a message which is not stated directly but can be inferred

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for subtext

"underlying theme of a work of literature, 1950, from sub- + text. Originally a term in Konstantin Stanislavsky's theory of acting. Earlier it was used in a literally sense of "text appearing below other text on a page" (1726).