narrator

American  

[nar-ay-ter, na-ray-, nar-uh-] / ˈnær eɪ tər, næˈreɪ-, ˈnær ə- /

Or narrater

noun

• narrators
  plural

1. 

   a person who gives an account or tells the story of events, experiences, etc.

2. a person who adds spoken commentary to a film, television program, slide show, etc.

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narrator British  

/ nəˈreɪtə /

noun

1. a person who tells a story or gives an account of something

2. a person who speaks in accompaniment of a film, television programme, etc

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narrator Cultural  

1. A person who tells a story; in literature, the voice that an author takes on to tell a story. This voice can have a personality quite different from the author's. For example, in his story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe makes his narrator a raving lunatic.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• narrators
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of narrator

First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin narrātor “narrator, historian” see narrate ( def. ), -or ² ( def. )

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Explanation

A narrator is the storyteller in a book or movie. One of the most famous literary narrators is Herman Melville's Ishmael, who tells the story of Moby Dick. The narrator is the person who tells the story — in other words, she narrates it. In a fictional work, the narrator is a character who relays the story from her own perspective, which is different from the writer. If you don't trust the narrator's version of the story, you may have encountered an "unreliable narrator." The Latin root is narrare, "to tell or relate," or literally "to make acquainted with," from gnarus, "knowing."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

narrator narrators

He also becomes something of an unreliable narrator, since we see much of the story through his eyes: During a dream, he’s beset by insects, one of which bites him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

At one point I think the narrator becomes Elvis Presley?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

A dazzling art exhibition is set to launch it, and our narrator will be handsomely paid for his assistance—writing promotional material, helping the artist with his research.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Sally Phillips, actor and narrator of the newly reissued Winnie-the-Pooh audiobooks, launched the campaign earlier by reading to schoolchildren at a phone box library in Chartham, Kent.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

“There was once, there was a man,” said Pomp, delighted narrator of horrors, “there was a man so afraid for dying, he make a deal with Death himself. A true story.”

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

She and Jackie Hoffman will be two American narrators for the show, while two British actresses perform the scenes.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026

Likewise, Epstein saw #MeToo as a problem to be neutralized because the success of any social movement in which women were treated as reliable narrators of their own exploitation would impede his own racket.”

From Salon ● May 23, 2026

“This story promises to have the happiest ending you will ever hear,” blares a propaganda loudspeaker, one of the novel’s narrators.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026

“Dear America, if I start investing when I am 16. Nine. Seven. It could change my future. All our futures,” young narrators say.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 8, 2026

Most of the narrators had joined the circle around George, as had a few of the barnyard animals, who were supposed to be clucking and mooing onstage.

From "George" by Alex Gino

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Related Words

• author
• chronicler
• novelist
• writer

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