Meanings
nounmetaness (uncountable)
alternative meta-ness
- informaluncommonuncountableSelf-referentiality and self-awareness, especially of tropes in art and fiction.
“Metaness” is in the mind of the beholder.
2001, Elliotte Rusty Harold, XML Bible, Wiley, →ISBN, page 1111 more example
And we know it also because the “metaness” of the communication becomes apparent in the fact that they not only simply play, but play with play.
1988, Robert Newsom, A Likely Story: Probability and Play in Fiction, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, page 186
Origin
From meta (“self-referential”) + -ness or meta- + -ness.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
metaness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metaness
MLA
“metaness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metaness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “metaness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metaness.
Source: metaness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.