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meta

noun, adj — 9 senses

meta

noun

UK /ˈmɛtə/ · US /ˈmɛtə/

Etymology Etymology 1, adjective sense 1 is a back-formation from meta- (prefix). Etymology 1, adjective sense 2 is derived from noun etymology 1, noun sense 1. The noun senses are clippings of various terms beginning with meta (prefix). Folk etymology for noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 also suggests an acronym for most effective/efficient tactic available.

1

Video games Abbreviation, Clipping Clipping of metagame.

  • I don't think the character will be part of the meta even with the recent buffs.
  • The phrase, “tank meta”, is one that carries a lot of weight when it comes to MOBAs. These metas are generally characterized by tanky, unkillable behemoths dominating the meta and leaving any character that isn’t focused around raw DPS in the dust.2022 November 17, Carver Fisher, “League of Legends preseason 13 has made tanks unkillable”, in Dexerto, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2024:
2

Video games Internet, Broadly An informal but widely adopted practice in a given field; a de facto standard.

  • Each video sharing platform's community has a meta on how long videos should be.
  • I remember interviewing PewDiePie a few years ago, and he was sort of telling me about this time where it was like edgy videos were being really rewarded, so everyone was kind of chasing like edgy humor and edgy memes, and sort of trying to figure out where the edge was. And then YouTube changed the meta, and suddenly, it wasn't good to be edgy, you weren't going to make as much money or get as many views.2023 October 27, 29:51 from the start, in Hard Fork (podcast), spoken by Kevin Roose, The New York Times:
3

Abbreviation, Clipping, Informal Clipping of metaoidioplasty.

4

Abbreviation, Clipping, Informal Clipping of metamour.

5

Lifestyle Abbreviation, Clipping, Slang Clipping of metanalysis: metanalysis or metacommentary focused on media, fandom, or related topics, typically presented as an essay or dialogue.

  • Many metas on Tumblr incorporate GIFs of scenes they are referencing as well as screencaps.2014, Jay Schnorrer, "Adding to Narration and The Johnlock Conspiracy – The Meaning of Digital Media for BBC's Sherlock", paper submitted to Freie Universität Berlin (link)
  • Fans create their own stories and media representation through fan fiction. They challenge the feminism in the [Sarah J. Maas] books through discussions and metas.2018, Sarah Leiser, "Throne of Fans: Examining the Roles of Feminism, Platform and Community in an Online Fandom", thesis submitted to the University of Denver, page 84
1 more example
  • It wasn’t until I dug into post-season-3 Sherlock meta in January of 2014 that I started to encounter "the Discourse."2020, Elizabeth Minkel, quoted in "Under the Radar: A Conversation about Tumblr in the Public Sphere", in A Tumblr Book: Platform and Cultures (eds. Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, and Indira Neill Hoch), page 64

meta

adj

Etymology Etymology 1, adjective sense 1 is a back-formation from meta- (prefix). Etymology 1, adjective sense 2 is derived from noun etymology 1, noun sense 1. The noun senses are clippings of various terms beginning with meta (prefix). Folk etymology for noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 also suggests an acronym for most effective/efficient tactic available.

1

Informal Self-referential; structured analogously (structured by relationships), but at a higher level.

  • Suppose you have a genie that grants you three wishes. If you wish for infinite wishes, that is a meta wish.
  • Suppose you have a homework task where you need to edit a wiki page and upload a screenshot of this entry underneath the word meta as an example of what meta is.
3 more examples
  • […] in finessing obligations you fail a "meta" kind of obligation.2002, Robert C. Neville, Religion in Late Modernity, →ISBN, page 31:
  • Besides, I can just hear Vaughan: "Very funny, Stacey, very Charlie Kaufman-esque, very meta, very '97. I can't use it."2006, Brendan Vaughan, What Would MacGyver Do?, →ISBN, page 186:
  • McDonald & Dodds is back, with episode one so deliberately hammy and meta that, technically, it should have been a complete horlicks. In one scene, when they were all hanging on to the balloon ropes, Mr Bean-like, to stop Jason Watkins flying away, it sort of was.2021 March 1, Carol Midgley, “McDonald & Dodds review – cheerful escapism and filth-free distraction”, in The Times:
2

Video games Prominent in the metagame; effective and frequently used in competitive gameplay.

  • I don't think the character will be meta even with the recent buffs.
Derived terms
metaness
Related terms
transcendental, self-aware

meta

noun

UK /ˈmiːtə/ · US /ˈmiːtə/

Etymology From Latin mēta.

1

Boundary marker.

2

Historical Either of the conical columns at each end of an Ancient Roman circus.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.