meta

¹

[ met-uh ]

adjective

1. pertaining to or noting a story, conversation, character, etc., that consciously references or comments upon its own subject or features, often in the form of parody:

   A movie about making a movie is just so meta—especially when the actors criticize the acting.

2. pertaining to or noting an abstract, high-level analysis or commentary, especially one that consciously references something of its own type.

noun

1. a consciously and playfully self-referential story, conversation, etc.:

   That dialogue was an example of meta at its best.

2. an abstract, high-level analysis or commentary:

   writing a meta to explain the character’s motivation.

verb (used without object)

1. to analyze or comment on something in a meta way:

   I spend more time metaing about the show than actually watching it.

meta

²

[ mee-tuh ]

noun

, plural me·tae [mee, -tee].

1. (in ancient Rome) a column or post, or a group of columns or posts, placed at each end of a racetrack to mark the turning places.

meta

³

[ met-uh ]

adjective

, Chemistry.

1. pertaining to or occupying two positions (1, 3) in the benzene ring that are separated by one carbon atom.

meta

⁴

[ met-uh ]

noun

, Slang.

1. a shortened form of metamour.

Meta

⁵

[ mee-tuh ]

noun

1. a female given name.

meta-

⁶

1. a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, with the meanings “after,” “along with,” “beyond,” “among,” “behind,” and productive in English on the Greek model:

   metacarpus; metagenesis.

2. a prefix added to the name of a subject and designating another subject that analyzes the original one but at a more abstract, higher level:

   metaphilosophy; metalinguistics.

3. a prefix added to the name of something that consciously references or comments upon its own subject or features:

   a meta-painting of an artist painting a canvas.

4. Chemistry.
   1. (of acids, salts, or their organic derivatives) a prefix denoting the least hydrated of a series: Compare ortho-, pyro-.

      meta-antimonic, HSbO3;

      meta-antimonous, HSbO2.

   2. a prefix designating the meta position in the benzene ring. : m-. Compare ortho-, para- ¹.

meta-

¹

prefix

1. indicating change, alteration, or alternation

   metamorphosis

   metabolism

2. (of an academic discipline, esp philosophy) concerned with the concepts and results of the named discipline See also metatheory

   metamathematics

   meta-ethics

3. occurring or situated behind or after

   metaphase

4. often in italics denoting that an organic compound contains a benzene ring with substituents in the 1,3-positions m- Compare ortho- para- 1

   meta-cresol

   metadinitrobenzene

5. denoting an isomer, polymer, or compound related to a specified compound (often differing from similar compounds that are prefixed by para- )

   metaldehyde

6. denoting an oxyacid that is a lower hydrated form of the anhydride or a salt of such an acid Compare ortho-

   metaphosphoric acid

Meta

²

/ ˈmeɪtə; ˈmeta /

noun

1. a river in Colombia, rising in the Andes and flowing northeast and east, forming part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela, to join the Orinoco River. Length: about 1000 km (620 miles)

Word History and Origins

Origin of meta¹

First recorded in 2010–15; adjective and noun use of meta- ( def )

Origin of meta²

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin mēta “cone, turning post”

Origin of meta³

First recorded in 1875–80; independent use of meta-

Origin of meta⁴

First recorded in 2010–15

Origin of meta⁵

From Greek, prefix and preposition; cognate with Old English mid “with,” German mit, Gothic mith

Word History and Origins

Origin of meta¹

Greek, from meta with, after, between, among. Compare Old English mid, mith with, Old Norse meth with, between

Example Sentences

An effective meta description can increase your click-through rates and thus, bring more visitors to your site.

From Search Engine Watch

“And you can increase your click-through rate, making sure that you’re not only showing in the right position, but the terms that are showing up in search result page for your title your meta descriptions are appealing to consumers,” she said.

From Search Engine Land

They should appear on URLs, copy, and meta content of your site if you have them.

From Search Engine Watch

The ability to optimize specific elements of the page—page title, URL, meta description, headings, and image alt text—is key.

From Search Engine Watch

Many studies have suggested that comics can engage a wide and diverse audience with science subjects, according to a 2018 meta-analysis in the Journal of Science Communication.

From Science News

Or perhaps Franco, meta-celeb extraordinaire, could star in the movie himself?

From The Daily Beast

Optimization techniques allow people to discover you, just like the meta-text of a website.

From The Daily Beast

Now, in a slightly meta moment, Brunt and Sky News are being harassed by the online community who blame them for her death.

From The Daily Beast

The clickbait backlash on various forms of social media is not only incredibly meta, but perhaps on first glance, overly dramatic.

From The Daily Beast

At that point, the call first got meta as those remaining read tweets about the ongoing conference call.

From The Daily Beast

"How very good she must be," said little Meta, quickly and softly; and a tear was sparkling on her eyelashes.

From Project Gutenberg

Meta tried to say "thank you," but not succeeding, looked imploringly at her governess, who spoke for her.

From Project Gutenberg

Just then a carriage stopped, and from it stepped the pretty little figure of Meta Rivers.

From Project Gutenberg

Music followed; Flora played nicely, Meta like a well-taught girl; Ethel went on musing over the engravings.

From Project Gutenberg

It was cheerful, and his voice sounded well pleased as he greeted Meta; then resumed an animated talk with Mr. Rivers.

From Project Gutenberg

More About Meta

What does else meta mean?

Meta is when something refers back to or is about itself, like a book about books or a meme about memes.

Where did meta come from?

Meta comes from the Greek prefix and preposition meta, which means “after” or “beyond.” When combined with words in English, meta- often signifies “change” or “alteration” as in the words metamorphic or metabolic.

The prefix meta- is notably used in metaphysics, a form of which is recorded in the 14th century for philosophy concerned with the first principles of things, the nuts and bolts of reality and existence.

Meta-, here, suggests “transcending” or “overarching,” helping it become a synonym for self-referential by the 1980s in postmodernism and popular culture, used for creative works that alluded to their own form, genre, tropes, or other conventions. Think art about art. One early instance, for example, described an appearance of a real-life TV news anchor of Murphy Brown, a sitcom about a fictional anchor, as meta.

In the 1990s–2000s, meta took special root in online gaming communities when discussing the most successful strategies, characters, or weapons. While some claim this meta is an acronym for Most Effective Tactic Available (a folk etymology), it is short for metagaming, using knowledge about the game itself to beat the “game” of mastering that game.

In the late 1990s, metagaming was used in games like Dungeons & Dragons to refer to an in-game character unfairly using information gathered outside of the game world by their player. Meta has gone on, in the gaming world, for anything out of the universe of the game used to affect the universe in the game—cheating, in a nutshell, and making the game less fun for more earnest players.

How to use the term meta

True to its history, meta can be prefixed (e.g., meta-definition). It can act as a simple modifier (e.g., He made a meta comment on Facebook). It’s often used in the predicate, though, as in: that video was so meta.

Examples of meta are often found in fine arts, with, say, paintings of paintings or photographs of photographers.

Popular culture has also gone meta, with cartoons showing their self-awareness as cartoons or films mocking the tropes of film.

The ironic, self-parodying culture of the internet makes it a hotbed for meta.

I haven't been tweeting much today. I suppose this is a meta-tweet, about tweeting.

— Jacqui Cheng, PhD Blogger School of Hard Knocks (@ejacqui) July 23, 2007

is walking by the Twitter offices in South Park. Oddly meta?

— ˗ˏˋ Chris Messina ´ˎ˗ (@chrismessina) February 5, 2007

Nowhere is this truer than memes, which, when they become quickly popular, instantly get remixed into other memes or into memes about their own viral meme-dom.

More examples of meta:

“One meta joke that didn’t make it into the film, however, would have poked fun at the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr. have both played a certain turn-of-the-century London-based detective.”
—Josh Weiss, Syfy, August 2018

Why is Meta in the news?

In October 2021, Facebook announced the new company name Meta. The name Facebook will still be used—the change involves Facebook becoming a subsidiary of Meta, along with other products like Instagram and WhatsApp. The name change followed announcements about the company’s plans to develop an online platform called the Metaverse, incorporating elements of virtual reality and augmented reality. (The word metaverse has traditionally been used to refer to some form of virtual world.)

The name change came amid increased scrutiny of Facebook and its business practices relating to internal documents leaked by a whistleblower and other recent scandals.

It was not the first name change by a tech giant. In 2015, Google was similarly restructured to become part of a parent company named Alphabet. Both changes are thought to be part of rebranding efforts that serve to encompass the wide-ranging scope of the companies’ beyond their traditional core (advertising-based) products.

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.