meta-, met-, meth-

Not having real existence but symbolic and showing some truth about a situation or other subject.

By leaving school without any qualifications, she has, metaphorically speaking, shot herself in the foot; that is, harmed her chances for success.

1. A verbal, or literal, translation.
2. A version or translation from one language into another, word for word; as opposed to a paraphrase.

1. Relating to the philosophical study of the nature of being and beings or a philosophical system resulting from such study.
2. Based on speculative reasoning and unexamined assumptions that have not been logically examined or confirmed by observation.
3. Extremely abstract or theoretical; abstruse; immaterial; incorporeal; supernatural.

In a metaphysical manner.

A scholar who specializes in the branch of philosophy concerned with the study of the nature of being, existence, time and space, and causality.

1. Philosophy The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value (used with a singular verb).
2. The theoretical or first principles of a particular discipline: the metaphysics of law (used with a plural verb).<>BR> 3. A priori speculation upon questions that are unanswerable to scientific observation, analysis, or experiment (used with a singular verb).

A change of cells to a form whic does not normally occur in the tissue in which it is found.

A general term used to describe cancer that begins in cells that have changed into another cell type; for example, a squamous cell of the esophagus changing to resemble a cell of the stomach.

In some cases, metaplastic changes alone may mean there is an increased chance of cancer developing at the bodily location.

Any of the bones of the metacarpus or metatarsus.

1. The posterior portion of the foot of a mullusk.
2. The middle region of the foot, either in vertebrates or invertebrates.