metareference

English

Etymology

meta- +‎ reference

Noun

metareference (countable and uncountable, plural metareferences)

  1. A technique in metafiction whereby a character displays awareness of being part of a dramatic work.
    • 2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 150:
      The poem's second line, for example, concludes with the lament "but my nerves. Lord these pensive endings." The latter can be read as a play on words, as in "nerve endings"; as a metareference to the end of that particular line; or even against the very end of the poem itself: "the darkness now confronts me . . ."
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