meta

noun

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping)Clipping of metagame.

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

   “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.”

2. (Internet, broadly, countable)Clipping of metagame.

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

   “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.”

3. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal)Clipping of metaoidioplasty.
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal)Clipping of metamour.
5. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang)Clipping 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.”

   “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.”

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

6. Boundary marker.
7. (historical)Either of the conical columns at each end of an Ancient Roman circus.

adj

1. (informal)Self-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.”

   “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.”

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

   “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.”

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.”

name

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. (historical)Meta, a biomedical research discovery tool.
3. A city in Osage County, Missouri.