Subtext

The meaning beneath the spoken line - what characters feel and want but don't say outright.

Subtext is the current under the dialogue: the real feeling, want, or conflict a character is steering around while their words say something else. Two people arguing about the dishes may be negotiating whether the marriage survives, and the scene works because the audience reads the gap.

It's the antidote to on-the-nose writing. When a line says exactly what a character means, subtext is gone and the scene goes flat; the craft move is to give the character a reason to hide the truth and let it leak through behaviour instead.