Metanarrative
Etymology
Popularized by French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard in "The Postmodern Condition" (1979), who defined the postmodern as "incredulity toward metanarratives" (French "métarécits" or "grands récits"). From Greek "meta" ("beyond, about") plus "narrative," from Latin "narrare" ("to tell"). Flagged as a coinage.
noun · /MET-uh-nair-uh-tiv/
A grand, overarching story a culture tells to explain and justify its knowledge, history, and values.
What it names
The big legitimizing stories — Progress, Salvation, the Free Market — so you can notice and question them; central to understanding postmodern skepticism.
Example
The startup sold more than software; it sold a metanarrative in which buying its app made you part of history’s march toward efficiency.
Related idea
Compare ideology; a metanarrative is the sweeping story form an ideology takes, a plot with a beginning and a promised end.