Meaning & use
intertextual
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Meaning
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Relating to the ways that one text refers to, echoes or is shaped by other texts.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: an intertextual reference, not the reference is intertextual.
Patterns
- an intertextual reference
- intertextual links between texts
The poem is full of intertextual references to Greek myths.
Students traced the intertextual links between the novel and the Bible.
Her essay explores intertextual connections in modern films.
Common combinations
- intertextual reference
- The film contains a clever intertextual reference to an older comedy.
- intertextual relationship
- The intertextual relationship between the two plays is clear.
- intertextual links
- Teachers ask students to find intertextual links between poems.
- intertextual analysis
- An intertextual analysis shows how the author borrowed images.
- intertextual allusion
- The title is an intertextual allusion to a famous play.
Synonyms and how they differ
- allusive
- Allusive means containing hints or references, but not necessarily to other written texts, while intertextual points to links between texts.
- referential
- Referential is broader and can mean referring to anything, whereas intertextual concerns other texts.
- cross-referenced
- Cross-referenced describes a practical link in a document, while intertextual describes a deeper literary connection.
Word family
Commonly confused: intertextual or intratextual?
intertextual vs intratextual
Intratextual means within a single text, whereas intertextual means between different texts.
Practice
The novel's title borrows a line from an old poem, which is an example of an ____ reference.
Choose one answer.
Intertextual describes links between different texts, such as borrowing a line from a poem. Intratextual refers to links inside a single text, so it is the tempting but wrong choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “intertextual”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.