Dictionary

self-referential en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈsɛlf ˌɹɛfəˈɹɛn(t)ʃəl/ (General-American)
• /ˈsɛlf ɹɛfəˈɹɛnʃl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé? Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *selbaz Old English self Old English self- Middle English self- English self- English referential English self-referential From self- + referential.

Meanings

1. That refers to itself or oneself.
   • What makes Scream so effective, and so timeless, is that it’s both a winking and self-referential breakdown of the tropes of the horror genre and a nearly flawless embodiment of the same. 2017 October 27, Alex McLevy, “Making a Killing: The Brief Life and Bloody Death of the Post-Scream Slasher Revival”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2018:
   • 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. 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:
   • 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. 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:
2. (specifically) In a literary work: referring to the author or the author's other works.
   • 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. 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:
   • 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. 1991, Edmund J. Smyth, editor, Postmodernism and Contemporary Fiction, London: B[radley] T[homas] Batsford Ltd., →ISBN, page 34:
   • 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. 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:

Forms

Deriveds

Tupper's self-referential formula · self-referential meaning · self-referentially · self-referentiality

Hyponyms

meta · autological

Relateds

self-reference

Translations (17)

de selbstbezüglich (that refers to itself or oneself) · cs sebevztažný (that refers to itself or oneself) · gl autorreferencial (that refers to itself or oneself) · it autoreferenziale (that refers to itself or oneself) · de selbstreferenziell (that refers to itself or oneself) · pl autoreferencyjny (in a literary work: referring to the author or the author's other works) · cs autoreferenční (that refers to itself or oneself) · es autorreferencial (that refers to itself or oneself) · hu önmagára hivatkozó (that refers to itself or oneself) · fr autoréférentiel (that refers to itself or oneself) · el αυτοαναφορικός (that refers to itself or oneself) · sv självrefererande (that refers to itself or oneself) · es autorreferente (that refers to itself or oneself) · cs sebereferenční (that refers to itself or oneself) · fr autoréférent (that refers to itself or oneself) · pl autoreferencyjny (that refers to itself or oneself) · hu önhivatkozó (that refers to itself or oneself)