hypertext
noun
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Since hyper- generally means "above, beyond", hypertext is something that's gone beyond the limitations of ordinary text. Thus, unlike the text in a book, hypertext permits you, by clicking with a mouse, to immediately access text in one of millions of different electronic sources. Hypertext is now so familiar that most computer users may not even know the word, which was coined by Ted Nelson back in the early 1960s. It took a few more years for hypertext to actually be created, by Douglas Engelbart, and then quite a few more years before the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1991.
Examples of hypertext in a Sentence
Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
The Memex was the prophetic prototype of hypertext, personal knowledge augmentation, and linked information systems.
—Amir Husain, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
In history, this had occurred only twice before: in 138 BC, when Emperor Wu of Han dispatched diplomat Zhang Qian to establish trade with the Western regions, and in 1989, when Tim Berners-Lee introduced his technical proposal for a hypertext system—the foundation of the modern web.
—Christian Catalini, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
That leaves this frenzied backstage glimpse not nearly as absorbing, as if everyone were a hypertext link to their future Wiki page instead of talented people in a tense moment, ready to gamble on something new.
—Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2024
His first effort, a command line tool for an existing hypertext platform called TiddlyWiki, fell flat with most of the IF world.
—Anna Washenko, Ars Technica, 20 June 2024
Cite this Entry
“Hypertext.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypertext. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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hypertext
noun
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