meta
\ MET-uh \,
adjective;
1.pertaining to or noting a story, conversation, character, etc., that consciously references or comments upon its own subject or features, often in the form of parody: A movie about making movie is just so meta—especially when the actors criticize the acting .
2.pertaining to or noting an abstract, high-level analysis or commentary, especially one that consciously references something of its own type.
noun:
1.a consciously and playfully self-referential story, conversation, etc.: That dialogue was an example meta at its best .
2.an abstract, high-level analysis or commentary: writing a meta to explain the character’s motivation .
verb:
1.to analyze or comment on something in a meta way: I spend more time metaing about the show than actually watching it.
Quotes:
This is all meant to be very meta . In one arc, the Doom Patrol is able to stop an imaginary world from taking over the real world when the team finds a black book that tells the story of a black book about an imaginary world taking over the real world.
-- Noah Berlatsky, "Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol: The Craziest Superhero Story Ever Told," The Atlantic , 2014
The meta craze in criticism soon reached a point of parody about self-conscious parody.
-- William Safire, "What's the Meta?" The New York Times Magazine , 2005
Origin:
Meta can be traced to the Greek preposition of the same spelling meaning "with," "after," "between." It entered English in the late 1800s in the context of chemistry.
Dictionary.com
