meta

plural metas

1. abbreviationclippingvideo gamesClipping of metagame.

   I don't think the character will be part of the meta even with the recent buffs.

   1 more example

   The phrase, “tank meta”, is one that carries a lot of weight when it comes to MOBAs. These metas are generally characterized by tanky, unkillable behemoths dominating the meta and leaving any character that isn’t focused around raw DPS in the dust.

   2022 November 17, Carver Fisher, “League of Legends preseason 13 has made tanks unkillable”, in Dexerto, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2024

   1. Internetbroadlycountablevideo gamesAn informal but widely adopted practice in a given field; a de facto standard.

      Each video sharing platform's community has a meta on how long videos should be.

      1 more example

      I remember interviewing PewDiePie a few years ago, and he was sort of telling me about this time where it was like edgy videos were being really rewarded, so everyone was kind of chasing like edgy humor and edgy memes, and sort of trying to figure out where the edge was. And then YouTube changed the meta, and suddenly, it wasn't good to be edgy, you weren't going to make as much money or get as many views.

      2023 October 27, 29:51 from the start, in Hard Fork (podcast), spoken by Kevin Roose, The New York Times

2. abbreviationclippinginformalClipping of metaoidioplasty.
3. abbreviationclippinginformalClipping of metamour.
4. abbreviationclippingslanglifestyleClipping of metanalysis: metanalysis or metacommentary focused on media, fandom, or related topics, typically presented as an essay or dialogue.

   Many metas on Tumblr incorporate GIFs of scenes they are referencing as well as screencaps.

   2014, Jay Schnorrer, "Adding to Narration and The Johnlock Conspiracy – The Meaning of Digital Media for BBC's Sherlock", paper submitted to Freie Universität Berlin (link)

   2 more examples

   Fans create their own stories and media representation through fan fiction. They challenge the feminism in the [Sarah J. Maas] books through discussions and metas.

   2018, Sarah Leiser, "Throne of Fans: Examining the Roles of Feminism, Platform and Community in an Online Fandom", thesis submitted to the University of Denver, page 84

   It wasn’t until I dug into post-season-3 Sherlock meta in January of 2014 that I started to encounter "the Discourse."

   2020, Elizabeth Minkel, quoted in "Under the Radar: A Conversation about Tumblr in the Public Sphere", in A Tumblr Book: Platform and Cultures (eds. Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, and Indira Neill Hoch), page 64

comparative more meta · superlative most meta

1. informalSelf-referential; structured analogously (structured by relationships), but at a higher level.

   Suppose you have a genie that grants you three wishes. If you wish for infinite wishes, that is a meta wish.

   4 more examples

   Suppose you have a homework task where you need to edit a wiki page and upload a screenshot of this entry underneath the word meta as an example of what meta is.

   […] in finessing obligations you fail a "meta" kind of obligation.

   2002, Robert C. Neville, Religion in Late Modernity, →ISBN, page 31

   Besides, I can just hear Vaughan: "Very funny, Stacey, very Charlie Kaufman-esque, very meta, very '97. I can't use it."

   2006, Brendan Vaughan, What Would MacGyver Do?, →ISBN, page 186

   McDonald & Dodds is back, with episode one so deliberately hammy and meta that, technically, it should have been a complete horlicks. In one scene, when they were all hanging on to the balloon ropes, Mr Bean-like, to stop Jason Watkins flying away, it sort of was.

   2021 March 1, Carol Midgley, “McDonald & Dodds review – cheerful escapism and filth-free distraction”, in The Times, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2021

2. video gamesProminent in the metagame; effective and frequently used in competitive gameplay.

   I don't think the character will be meta even with the recent buffs.

plural metas · plural metae

1. Boundary marker.
2. historicalEither of the conical columns at each end of an Ancient Roman circus.

1. Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly Facebook, Inc. (until late 2021): an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company that is the parent organization of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other subsidiaries.
2. historicalMeta, a biomedical research discovery tool.

1. A city in Osage County, Missouri.