"self-referential" meaning in English

See self-referential in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈsɛlf ɹɛfəˈɹɛnʃl/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈsɛlf ˌɹɛfəˈɹɛn(t)ʃəl/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-self-referential.ogg Forms: more self-referential [comparative], most self-referential [superlative]
Etymology: From self- + referential. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|self|referential}} self- + referential Head templates: {{en-adj}} self-referential (comparative more self-referential, superlative most self-referential)
  1. That refers to itself or oneself. Translations (that refers to itself or oneself): sebevztažný (Czech), sebereferenční (Czech), autoreferenční (Czech), autoréférentiel (French), autoréférent (French), autorreferencial [feminine, masculine] (Galician), selbstbezüglich (German), selbstreferenziell (German), αυτοαναφορικός (aftoanaforikós) [masculine] (Greek), önhivatkozó (Hungarian), önmagára hivatkozó (Hungarian), autoreferenziale (Italian), autorreferencial (Spanish), autorreferente (Spanish), självrefererande (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-self-referential-en-adj-5QreBKBa Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with self-, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Galician translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Greek translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with self-: 80 20 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 57 43 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 55 45 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 57 43 Disambiguation of Terms with Czech translations: 57 43 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 65 35 Disambiguation of Terms with Galician translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with Greek translations: 63 37 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 62 38 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 66 34 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of 'that refers to itself or oneself': 99 1
  2. (specifically) In a literary work: referring to the author or the author's other works. Tags: specifically
    Sense id: en-self-referential-en-adj-Cavf3G2~ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 54 46 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 55 45
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Hyponyms: autological, meta [informal] Derived forms: Tupper's self-referential formula, self-referentiality, self-referentially, self-referential meaning Related terms: self-reference
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  "forms": [
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      "form": "more self-referential",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
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        "superlative"
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        {
          "ref": "1854 March 15, Leigh Hunt, “On Poems of Joyous Impulse. A Sequel to the ‘Effusion on Cream,’ Intended as much for Musical, as for Literary Consideration”, in The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, volume V, number 120, London: London Sacred Music Warehouse, J[oseph] Alfred Novello, music seller […], →OCLC, page 394, column 1:",
          "text": "That is a very pleasant line, the one that we have italicized; […] Why did he [Ben Jonson] not write more such? He might answer that he did, and that his poetry was full of enjoyment. But it is not; at least not in the entirely happy, familiar, unmisgiving, self-referential, and yet not self-loving sense that we speak of.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Michael Lewis, Margaret Wolan Sullivan, Catherine Stanger, Maya Weiss, “Self Development and Self-conscious Emotions”, in Stella Chess, Margaret E. Hertzig, editors, Annual Progress in Child Psychiatry and Child Development 1990: A Selection of the Year’s Outstanding Contributions to the Understanding and Treatment of the Normal and Disturbed Child, New York, N.Y.: Brunner/Mazel, →ISBN, page 48:",
          "text": "Self-referential behavior has been defined operationally as the ability of the child to look at its image in the mirror and to show, by pointing and touching its nose, that the image in the mirror there is located in the space here at the physical site of the child itself. In the results reported in both studies, embarrassment, in general, does not occur unless self-referential behavior exists.",
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        "That refers to itself or oneself."
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        [
          "refer",
          "refer"
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        [
          "itself",
          "itself"
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          "oneself",
          "oneself"
        ]
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        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "sebevztažný"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "sebereferenční"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "cs",
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          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "autoreferenční"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
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          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "autoréférentiel"
        },
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          "_dis1": "99 1",
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          "lang": "French",
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          "word": "autoréférent"
        },
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          "lang": "Galician",
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            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
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        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "selbstbezüglich"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "selbstreferenziell"
        },
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          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "aftoanaforikós",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "αυτοαναφορικός"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "önhivatkozó"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "önmagára hivatkozó"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "autoreferenziale"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "autorreferencial"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "autorreferente"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
          "word": "självrefererande"
        }
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          "text": "It [Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy] also has a design strictly self-referential. The author feigns, that the beatified spirit of his mistress has obtained leave to warn and purify his soul by shewing him the state of things in the next world.",
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          "text": "Many women authors extend the sort of metafictional self-scrutiny which The Golden Notebook so extensively sustains: Eva Figes's novels, for example, often raise self-referential questioning of their own representational validity and Muriel Spark teases several of her heroines with unsettling awareness of the process of their own creation.",
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        {
          "ref": "1992, Charles Oriel, “Introduction”, in Writing and Inscription in Golden Age Drama (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures), West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 2:",
          "text": "The act of reading and writing and their relation to representation (in general) and literature (in particular) have, of course, received increasing attention over the last several years from authors and critics alike. We have seen a proliferation of self-referential gestures in much recent fiction: an emphasizing of the processes and implications of reading and writing, such as that found in the work of Jorge Luis Borges or Italo Calvino, to name only two of the many authors who come to mind.",
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        "(specifically) In a literary work: referring to the author or the author's other works."
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      "tags": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈsɛlf ɹɛfəˈɹɛnʃl/",
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        "Received-Pronunciation"
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    "Terms with French translations",
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    "Terms with German translations",
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    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
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    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations"
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      "word": "Tupper's self-referential formula"
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      "word": "self-referentiality"
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      "word": "self-referentially"
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  "etymology_text": "From self- + referential.",
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      "form": "more self-referential",
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        "comparative"
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      "form": "most self-referential",
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          "ref": "1854 March 15, Leigh Hunt, “On Poems of Joyous Impulse. A Sequel to the ‘Effusion on Cream,’ Intended as much for Musical, as for Literary Consideration”, in The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, volume V, number 120, London: London Sacred Music Warehouse, J[oseph] Alfred Novello, music seller […], →OCLC, page 394, column 1:",
          "text": "That is a very pleasant line, the one that we have italicized; […] Why did he [Ben Jonson] not write more such? He might answer that he did, and that his poetry was full of enjoyment. But it is not; at least not in the entirely happy, familiar, unmisgiving, self-referential, and yet not self-loving sense that we speak of.",
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          "text": "Self-referential behavior has been defined operationally as the ability of the child to look at its image in the mirror and to show, by pointing and touching its nose, that the image in the mirror there is located in the space here at the physical site of the child itself. In the results reported in both studies, embarrassment, in general, does not occur unless self-referential behavior exists.",
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          "ref": "1846, Leigh Hunt, “Critical Notice of Dante’s Life and Genius”, in Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 41:",
          "text": "It [Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy] also has a design strictly self-referential. The author feigns, that the beatified spirit of his mistress has obtained leave to warn and purify his soul by shewing him the state of things in the next world.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Edmund J. Smyth, editor, Postmodernism and Contemporary Fiction, London: B[radley] T[homas] Batsford Ltd., →ISBN, page 34:",
          "text": "Many women authors extend the sort of metafictional self-scrutiny which The Golden Notebook so extensively sustains: Eva Figes's novels, for example, often raise self-referential questioning of their own representational validity and Muriel Spark teases several of her heroines with unsettling awareness of the process of their own creation.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992, Charles Oriel, “Introduction”, in Writing and Inscription in Golden Age Drama (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures), West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 2:",
          "text": "The act of reading and writing and their relation to representation (in general) and literature (in particular) have, of course, received increasing attention over the last several years from authors and critics alike. We have seen a proliferation of self-referential gestures in much recent fiction: an emphasizing of the processes and implications of reading and writing, such as that found in the work of Jorge Luis Borges or Italo Calvino, to name only two of the many authors who come to mind.",
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    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "sebevztažný"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "sebereferenční"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "autoreferenční"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "autoréférentiel"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "autoréférent"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "autorreferencial"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "selbstbezüglich"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "selbstreferenziell"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "aftoanaforikós",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "αυτοαναφορικός"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "önhivatkozó"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "önmagára hivatkozó"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "autoreferenziale"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "autorreferencial"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "autorreferente"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "that refers to itself or oneself",
      "word": "självrefererande"
    }
  ],
  "word": "self-referential"
}

Download raw JSONL data for self-referential meaning in English (7.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.