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Definition of meta

meta

/ˈmɛt.ə/
met · a
Plural:metas
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meta Lexical Profile

meta Game Scores & Validity

• adjective

1

Showing or suggesting an explicit awareness of itself or the conventions of its genre; deliberately self-referential.

Example

"The film's script was heavily meta, featuring characters who constantly debated the clichés of the horror genre they were trapped in."

Synonyms
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Antonyms
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• noun

1

In competitive environments, especially video games, the currently dominant strategy, team composition, or set of tactics considered the most effective.

Example

"The recent software update completely changed the tournament meta by weakening the most popular characters."

Synonyms
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Word Nuance & Usage

While technically slang derived from 'metagame' or the prefix 'meta-', it has been widely adopted into mainstream vernacular to describe both self-referential media and competitive gaming strategies.

• Rhymes for meta

• Nearby Words

messiness
messy
mestizo
meta
meta river
metabolic
metabolism

Word Origin & Etymology

Derived from the Greek prefix 'meta-' meaning 'after' or 'beyond'. It evolved into a standalone word in the late 20th century to describe self-referential creative works, and later as a gaming term short for 'metagame'.

Usage Trend

Historical frequency of usage in published text.

180019102020
Data source: Google Books Ngram Viewer

Cite this Entry

Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Meta. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Nov 5, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/meta
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