raconteur
Americannoun
-
raconteurs
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of raconteur
1820–30; < French, equivalent to racont ( er ) to tell ( Old French r ( e ) - re- + aconter to tell, account ) + -eur -eur
Explanation
Raconteurs are gifted storytellers, able to spin amusing tales from everyday life. Who is the biggest raconteur in your group? He or she's the one who always tells the best stories — or jumps in when another storyteller isn't being vivid enough. Do you make going to the store to buy groceries a fascinating experience? Do you offer witty observations of the people you pass on the street? If so, you're a raconteur, someone who can regale his or her listeners with riveting stories, usually funny, sometimes dramatic. Raconteur comes from the French word "raconter," meaning "to recount." Note its "eur" ending, signaling its French origin.
Vocabulary lists containing raconteur
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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English Words Derived from French, List 9
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He was an engaging, funny and self-deprecating raconteur, ready with the quotable quip and the off-the-record gossip, which always assured him of an audience.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Ever the raconteur, Madonna balked: “I don’t know, how much longer can you go on doing what you’re doing? Don’t limit me.”
From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2026
Mr. Man is knowledgeable and well-traveled, but as a historian he is more of a raconteur than a scholar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Pierre Schoeman tells a story from his youth in South Africa, a natural-born raconteur in adulthood speaking of the adventurous spirit of his 13-year-old self.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Gregarious by nature, Hall proved to be a skillful raconteur with a caustic Kiwi wit.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
All seem to use the word differently than in its usual application to novelists, playwrights and raconteurs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Over seven decades, the Australian entertainer built a global reputation as one of the greatest raconteurs and comedians of his age.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2023
The characters were raconteurs who couldn’t help mythologizing their youth, their city and their relationships.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2022
All premier raconteurs who captured the guts of New York.
From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2021
There are, to be sure, stand-up comedians, shaggy- dog raconteurs, consummate essayists, and authors of mystery novels who can build up curiosity and suspense and then resolve it all with a sudden revelation.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
