meta-
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or met-
pref.
pref.
- Later in time: metestrus.
- At a later stage of development: metanephros.
- Situated behind: metacarpus.
- Change; transformation: metachromatism.
- Alternation: metagenesis.
- Beyond; transcending; more comprehensive: metalinguistics.
- At a higher state of development: metazoan.
- Having undergone metamorphosis: metasomatic.
- Derivative or related chemical substance: metaprotein.
- Of or relating to one of three possible isomers of a benzene ring with two attached chemical groups, in which the carbon atoms with attached groups are separated by one unsubstituted carbon atom: meta-dibromobenzene.
[Greek, from meta, beside, after.]
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In recent use this prefix has been borrowed from the term metaphysics and applied to other words with the meaning 'of a higher or second-order kind': a metalanguage is language used to describe language, metafiction is a form of fiction in which the author set out to parody literary conventions, and metapsychology is the study of mental processes that extend beyond the scope of experimental psychology.
| merit, meretricious, merchandise | |
| metal, mettle, metallurgy, metaphor and simile |
[from analytic philosophy] One level of description up. A metasyntactic variable is a variable in notation used to describe syntax, and meta-language is language used to describe language. This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humor turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels. See hacker humor.
In a racetrack, a column or monument to mark a turn.
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symbol: m-; prefix (in organic chemical nomenclature) denoting the isomer of a disubstituted monocyclic aromatic compound in which the substituents are separated by one intervening unsubstituted ring-carbon atom. Compare ortho-, para-.
| meta+, metJ, met+ | |
| meta-analysis, metabisulfite, metabolic |
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'meta-'
- Prefixes - meta-: after, beyond, changed (metaphysics)
- Relative Time - meta-: prefix meaning after or beyond
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture & Construction
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry
Oxford University Press. Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology © 1997, 2000, 2006 All rights reserved.
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