Definitions

1. noun

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used to refer to a word or phrase that is itself being used metaphorically, often creating a self-referential or reflexive effect.

“The critic pointed out the use of metalepsis in the poet’s description of language as a ‘tongue that speaks’ itself.”

2. noun

A trope or literary device in which a word or phrase breaks the frame of a narrative or shifts between different levels of reality, often blurring the line between fiction and reality.

“The novel’s use of metalepsis blurred the line between the character’s dream world and the real world, leaving the reader questioning what was real and what was not.”