Self-referential

Describing something, such as a work of art, a piece of writing, or a conversation, that refers to itself, its own construction, or the process of its creation. It can also indicate a system or process that uses its own outputs or states as inputs to determine its future behavior. This reflexive quality often invites meta-commentary, breaking the fourth wall and drawing attention to the artificiality or constructed nature of the thing being presented. It acknowledges the presence of the creator or the inherent limitations of the medium.

Self-referential meaning with examples

• The play was delightfully self-referential, with characters frequently commenting on their roles, the audience's reactions, and the conventions of theater itself. This playful approach kept the audience engaged and added a layer of humor to the otherwise serious themes. The actors frequently broke the fourth wall.
• The novel employed a self-referential narrative structure, with the narrator sometimes addressing the reader directly and discussing the challenges of writing the story. The story acknowledged its own fictionality and explored the relationship between author and reader.
• A self-referential computer program might analyze its own code to optimize its performance, improving its efficiency based on the structure of itself and feedback. self-referential design has the potential to drastically improve machine learning algorithms.
• The artist's installation was highly self-referential. The piece itself was constructed of materials representing the tools and processes that it was built with and referenced the creation. This brought the audience into a world of thought and creation.