commentator

American  

[kom-uhn-tay-ter] / ˈkɒm ənˌteɪ tər /

noun

• commentators
  plural

1. a person who discusses news, sports events, weather, or the like, as on television or radio.

2. a person who makes commentaries.

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commentator British  

/ ˈkɒmənˌteɪtə /

noun

1. a person who provides a spoken commentary for a broadcast, film, etc, esp of a sporting event

2. a person who writes notes on a text, event, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• supercommentator
  noun
• commentatorial
  adjective
• commentatorially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• commentators
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of commentator

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin commentātor interpreter, equivalent to commentā ( rī ) to interpret ( Latin: to think about, prepare, discuss, write, perhaps frequentative of comminīscī to devise; see comment) + Latin -tor -tor

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Explanation

A person who analyzes and discusses topics in politics and sports is called a commentator. If you want to hear opinions on the news rather than the news itself, listen to commentators. A reporter delivers the news and a commentator analyzes it, sometimes within the same news program. If you're a top sports commentator, you may become an even bigger household name than the players you are discussing, and you may pull in just as much money too. Political commentators, who often offer more opinion rather than analysis, are also sometimes called pundits or talking heads.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

commentator commentators

I have started to feel like a sports commentator for the apocalypse—not all the time, but way too much.

From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2026

Sports commentator Yan cast doubt on whether the reputation of Mbappe, whose face has adorned drinks bottles and advertising campaigns in China, can ever fully recover.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

Prior to “The Daily Show,” Bleyer also wrote on the satire show “Politically Incorrect” led by comic commentator Bill Maher, the improv comedy show “Significant Others” and late-night talk show “Dennis Miller.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

It’s a tedious rebuttal to Verlyn Klinkenborg, a fellow commentator on rural life, who in the New York Review of Books in 2020 offered a mixed appraisal of Berry’s essays.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Not long after, a commentator informed the audience that he had just been handed a telegram.

From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow

Although many commentators cite the gross federal debt that recently passed $40 trillion, economists prefer the measure known as debt held by the public because it better measures the burden of borrowing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

It became the subject of a series of Pogo comic strips and many commentators took the article as strictly a tongue-in-cheek comment on population fears.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

The footage was pored over by Naicker's team of commentators, while his phone was "WhatsApping off the hook" with messages from around the world, asking him to show it again and again.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

For the head of Goldman Sachs’ hedge fund coverage, this setup is not as bearish as many market commentators would have investors believe.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

Some commentators have argued that Brignoni-Ponce may be limited to the immigration context; the Court might not apply the same principle to drug-law enforcement.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

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Related Words

• analyst
• announcer
• correspondent
• critic
• observer
• pundit
• reviewer
• sportscaster
• writer

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