WORD ORIGIN
noun the underlying or implicit meaning, as of a literary work.
Origin of subtext 1945–50; translation of
Russian podtékst; see
sub- ,
text Related forms sub·tex·tu·al , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for subtextual noun an underlying theme in a piece of writing
a message which is not stated directly but can be inferred
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for subtextual n. "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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
