metareference
metareference noun: a technique in metafiction whereby a character displays awareness of being part of a dramatic work.
Noun
metareference (countable and uncountable, plural metareferences)
- A technique in metafiction whereby a character displays awareness of being part of a dramatic work.
- The poem's second line, for example, concludes with the lament "but my nerves. Lord these pensive endings." The latter can be read as a play on words, as in "nerve endings"; as a metareference to the end of that particular line; or even against the very end of the poem itself: "the darkness now...2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 150
Forms of metareference
| plural | metareferences |
|---|
Origin of metareference
From meta- + reference.
Questions about metareference
- What does metareference mean?
- Metareference means a technique in metafiction whereby a character displays awareness of being part of a dramatic work.
- What part of speech is metareference?
- Metareference is a noun.
- What is the plural of metareference?
- The plural of metareference is metareferences.
Words near metareference in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: metareference (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: “metareference.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/metareference. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.