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meta-

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meta-

[′med·ə]
(organic chemistry)
A prefix for benzene-ring compounds when two side chains are connected to carbon atoms with an unsubstituted carbon atom between them.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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References in periodicals archive
"*1914, from meta- "transcending, overarching, dealing with the most fundamental matters of + analysis.
[...] misinterpretation of metaphysics as "science of that which transcends the physical." This has led to a prodigious erroneous extension in modern usage, with meta- affixed to the names of other sciences and disciplines, especially in the academic jargon of literary criticism.
(1) One may wonder why meta- is frequent in modern technical languages, and one of the usual suspects may be Tarski who had a problem with specific truth conditions, so he suggested that (according to SEP):
Compounds as idioms. A case study of a 'meta-trend'
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