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Meta vs Recursive - What's the difference?

meta | recursive |

As adjectives the difference between meta and recursive

is that meta is self-referential; at a higher level while recursive is drawing upon itself, referring back.

As a noun meta

is boundary marker.

meta

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (informal) Self-referential; at a higher level
  • * {{quote-book, 2002, Robert C. Neville, Religion in Late Modernity citation
    • , passage=
  • * {{quote-book, 2006, Brendan Vaughan, What Would MacGyver Do? citation
    • , passage=Besides, I can just hear Vaughan: "Very funny, Stacey, very Charlie Kaufman-esque, very meta , very '97. I can't use it." }}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • boundary marker
  • Either of the conical columns at each end of a Roman circus

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    recursive

    English

    Adjective

    {{examples-right, sense=function, The factorial function - : f(0) = 1 : f(n) = n \times f(n-1) where n is any natural number greater than 0}} (en adjective)
  • drawing upon itself, referring back.
    • The recursive nature of stories which borrow from each other
  • (mathematics, not comparable) of an expression, each term of which is determined by applying a formula to preceding terms
  • (computing, not comparable) of a program or function that calls itself
  • (computing theory, not comparable, of a function) which can be computed by a theoretical model of a computer, in a finite amount of time
  • (computing theory, not comparable, of a set) whose characteristic function is recursive (4)

    • Hyponyms

    * (of a function) primitive recursive

    Hypernyms

    * recursively enumerable

    Related terms

    * recursivity * recurrent * recurrence * recursion * recursive conundrum * co-recursive

    Derived terms

    * recursive acronym * tail recursive *

    See also

    * (wikipedia)