Dictionary

subtext en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Latin sub Latin sub-der. English sub- Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-seti Proto-Indo-European *téḱseti Proto-Italic *teksō? Latin texō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus New Latin textusbor. Old French textebor. Middle English text English text English subtext From sub- + text.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) An implicit meaning of a text, often a literary one, or a speech or dialogue.
   • The word dick has meant penis since the 1890s, but Chester Gould’s private detective “Dick Tracy” has no puerile subtext related to this word. 2011, Patrick Spedding, James Lambert, “Fanny Hill, Lord Fanny, and the Myth of Metonymy”, in Studies in Philology, volume 108, number 1, page 113:
   • Everyone heard the announcement, but not everyone agrees on what the subtext was.
   • While his major plays appear on the surface to have little plot, their subtext is full of overheated romance and melodrama. 2012 July 27, Jason Zinoman, “Chekhov's Banana Peel”, in Slate, archived from the original on 25 Feb 2022:

Forms

Coordinates

peritext · paratext · context · epitext

Deriveds

subtextless · subtextual

Descendants

סאבטקסט

Relateds

subcurrent · connotation · undercurrent · subtweet

Translations (22)

sv undertext (implicit meaning of a text) · kk сөздің астары (implicit meaning of a text) · ko 서브텍스트 (implicit meaning of a text) · ka ქვეტექსტი (implicit meaning of a text) · cs podtext (implicit meaning of a text) · pl podtekst (implicit meaning of a text) · he משמעות סמוייה (implicit meaning of a text) · sv undermening (implicit meaning of a text) · de Subtext (implicit meaning of a text) · kk бүкпе мән (implicit meaning of a text) · es subtexto (implicit meaning of a text) · fr sous-texte (implicit meaning of a text) · kk мәтін астары (implicit meaning of a text) · sq kalarupthi (implicit meaning of a text) · cmn 潛台詞 /潜台词 (implicit meaning of a text) · hy ենթատեքստ (implicit meaning of a text) · ca subtext (implicit meaning of a text) · he תת כותרת (implicit meaning of a text) · fi alateksti (implicit meaning of a text) · pt subtexto (implicit meaning of a text) · ru подте́кст (implicit meaning of a text) · bg подте́кст (implicit meaning of a text)

subtext en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Latin sub Latin sub-der. English sub- Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-seti Proto-Indo-European *téḱseti Proto-Italic *teksō? Latin texō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus New Latin textusbor. Old French textebor. Middle English text English text English subtext From sub- + text.

Meanings

1. To create or use a subtext.
   • Subtexting is the technique that every author needs to know in order to create dialogue that is rich in meaning while sounding natural, for in real life, this is the way people often converse. 2002, Collins, Brandilyn, Getting into character : seven secrets a novelist can learn from actors, →OCLC:
   • All the participants used subtexting as an important viewing strategy of mainstream films. We are always looking for innuendoes and cues either with certain individual characters or between female characters. 1996, Womonspace News: Our Voice in the Lesbian Community: Dec 1996:

Forms

Relateds

subtweet