meta

1 of 2

adjective

ˈme-tə 

1

informal : showing or suggesting an explicit awareness of itself or oneself as a member of its category : cleverly self-referential

"The Bar?" she said. "I know the place. Been meaning to drop by. Love the name. Very meta."

—Gillian Flynn

The meta gift of the year: a picture of a lamp that actually lights up. Designer Finn Magee's trompe l'oeil is printed on plastic, embedded with electronics, and equipped with a cord and switch.

—Karissa Bell et al.

A new comedy about fantasy football, which follows a group of armchair quarterbacks as they try to tackle life. How meta would it be if people started betting on what was going to happen on the show?

—TV Guide

Leave it to Larry to contort public desire for a Seinfeld reunion into a meta plot that chronicles his not-necessarily-noble struggle to pull off a Seinfeld reunion.

—Dan Snierson

2

informal : concerning or providing information about members of its own category

… Slate, a Web zine published by Microsoft that devotes much of its content to what [editor Michael] Kinsley calls "meta news"—news about the news.

—Rick Marin et al.

Given that the coverage of any one search engine is limited, the simplest means of improving the coverage of Web search engines is to combine the results of multiple engines, as is done with meta search engines such as MetaCrawler (www.metacrawler.com).

—Steve Lawrence

meta-

2 of 2

prefix

variants or met-

1

a

: occurring later than or in succession to : after

metestrus

b

: situated behind or beyond

metencephalon

metacarpus

c

: later or more highly organized or specialized form of

metaxylem

2

: change : transformation

metaplasia

3

[metaphysics] : more comprehensive : transcending

metapsychological

—usually used with the name of a discipline to designate a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one

metamathematics

4

a

: involving substitution at or characterized by two positions in the benzene ring that are separated by one carbon atom

meta-xylene

b

: derived from by loss of water

metaphosphoric acid

Examples of meta in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

In a meta wink, True Whitaker — daughter of Forest — plays Alani, the child of a famous actor content with an obviously fake job at his production company; Charlie (Jordan Firstman, another savant of front-facing video) is a stylist who mostly spends his days managing the ego of various pop stars. —Alison Herman, Variety, 30 Oct. 2025

Now, some people might get the wrong idea that Pluribus shares the same universe as Saul and Bad, but are those meta references just too much fun to resist? —Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 30 Oct. 2025

Others might take the opportunity to be super meta and require a quick Google search to figure out what their costume is. —Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025

And here’s where Nothing Is Lost gets really knotty, extremely meta, and very, very interesting. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

independent use of meta-

Prefix

New Latin & Medieval Latin, from Latin or Greek; Latin, from Greek, among, with, after, from meta among, with, after; akin to Old English mid, mith with, Old High German mit

First Known Use

Adjective

1988, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing meta

• meta-analysis

Rhymes for meta

• cheetah
• mita
• pieta
• pita
• rita
• vitta
• advaita
• amanita
• cucurbita
• emerita
• incognita
• manzanita

Medical Definition

meta

1 of 2 adjective

ˈmet-ə 

: relating to, characterized by, or being two positions in the benzene ring that are separated by one carbon atom

meta-

2 of 2 prefix

variants or met-

1

: isomeric with or otherwise closely related to

metaldehyde

2

: involving substitution at or characterized by two positions in the benzene ring that are separated by one carbon atom

—abbreviation m-

meta-xylene or m-xylene

compare orth- sense 2, para- sense 2

Geographical Definition

Meta

geographical name

Me·​ta ˈmā-tä 

river over 620 miles (995 kilometers) long in northeastern Colombia flowing into the Orinoco River on the Venezuela–Colombia boundary