Word.ws English Dictionary

above the table

above the table prepositional phrase: outside the fictional reality of the game; in real life.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (roleplaying games) Outside the fictional reality of the game; in real life.
    • And our original 1991 cast, we were playing off the meta quite a bit, in that the show itself is very, it’s self-aware, but we never allow our players to be self-aware. The way that we roleplay, we’re always asking our players to be completely in character, and never meta game above the table. We...2022 February 16, Kat Bloodgood, “Hyper RPG Set To Launch New KOLLOK Series On FearHQ [Interview]”, in That Hashtag Show, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2025
    • The McElroys make tabletop gaming a family affair in The Adventure Zone, peppering their signature brand of humor into the long-running TTRPG actual-play podcast. From theme park heists like the current Steeplechase campaign to one-shot romps like Just Us and Dadlands, The Adventure Zone has kept...2023 October 4, Tara McCauley, “Adventure Zone's Funniest Moments, Ranked”, in Comic Book Resources, archived from the original on 08 Oct 2024

Examples of above the table in a sentence

  • The way that we roleplay, we’re always asking our players to be completely in character, and never meta game above the table.2022 February 16, Kat Bloodgood, “Hyper RPG Set To Launch New KOLLOK Series On FearHQ [Interview]”, in That Hashtag Show, archived from the...
  • Jasmin Bhullar as Little Army Man, the powerhouse of the group, using rage on and above the table.2025 July 17, Panda, “Dimension 20: Blithe, Baffled, And Bewildered By Brennan And A Bus”, in The Fandomentals, archived from the original...

Origin of above the table

When playing a tabletop role-playing game the fictional reality is represented by things on the table, whereas the real people playing the game are considered to be above the table.

Questions about above the table

What does above the table mean?
Above the table means outside the fictional reality of the game; in real life.
How do you use above the table in a sentence?
The way that we roleplay, we’re always asking our players to be completely in character, and never meta game above the table.
What part of speech is above the table?
Above the table is a prepositional phrase.

Words near above the table in the dictionary

  1. above the law
  2. above the line
  3. above the neck rule
  4. above the rim
  5. above the salt
  6. above the table
  7. above water
  8. above-board
  9. above-cited
  10. above-described
  11. above-ground

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: above the table (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “above the table.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/above_the_table. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.