diegetic.

Belonging to or occurring within the represented story world.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• diegetic sound
• diegetic event

On the page

The diegetic sound came from a source the characters could hear.

The account distinguished a diegetic event from the narrator’s external comment.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Normally relational or categorical; comparison only where the particular property admits gradation. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: artistic orientation, figurative interpretation, life writing, narrative knowledge. Disciplines: literary writing, literary analysis, advanced general English. Commonness: uncommon.