subtext

1. (literature) The implicit meaning of a text, often a literary one, or a speech or dialogue.Examples: "Everyone heard the announcement, but not everyone agrees on what the subtext was."; "The word dick has meant penis since the 1890s, but Chester Gould’s private detective “Dick Tracy” has no puerile subtext related to this word."; "While his major plays appear on the surface to have little plot, their subtext is full of overheated romance and melodrama."countableuncountable