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meta.

Clipping of metagame.

4 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈmɛtə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmɛtə/General-American[ˈmɛɾə]General-American
  1. Clipping of metagame.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping
    I don't think the character will be part of the meta even with the recent buffs.
  2. Clipping of metagame. An informal but widely adopted practice in a given field; a de facto standard.

    Internet · broadly · countable
    Each video sharing platform's community has a meta on how long videos should be.
  3. Clipping of metaoidioplasty.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · informal
  4. Clipping of metamour.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · informal
  5. Clipping of metanalysis: metanalysis or metacommentary focused on media, fandom, or related topics, typically presented as an essay or dialogue.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology 1, adjective sense 1 is a back-formation from meta- (prefix). Etymology 1, adjective sense 2 is derived from noun etymology 1, noun sense 1. The noun senses are clippings of various terms beginning with meta (prefix). Folk etymology for noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 also suggests an acronym for most effective/efficient tactic available.

adj/ˈmɛtə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmɛtə/General-American[ˈmɛɾə]General-American
  1. Self-referential; structured analogously (structured by relationships), but at a higher level.

    informal
    Suppose you have a genie that grants you three wishes. If you wish for infinite wishes, that is a meta wish.
    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.
  2. Prominent in the metagame; effective and frequently used in competitive gameplay.

    I don't think the character will be meta even with the recent buffs.
Where this word comes from

Etymology 1, adjective sense 1 is a back-formation from meta- (prefix). Etymology 1, adjective sense 2 is derived from noun etymology 1, noun sense 1. The noun senses are clippings of various terms beginning with meta (prefix). Folk etymology for noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 also suggests an acronym for most effective/efficient tactic available.

noun/ˈmiːtə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmiːtə/General-American[ˈmiːɾə]General-American
  1. Boundary marker.

  2. Either of the conical columns at each end of an Ancient Roman circus.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From Latin mēta.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.