narrative
a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.
a book, literary work, etc., containing such a story.
the art, technique, or process of narrating, or of telling a story: Somerset Maugham was a master of narrative.
a story that connects and explains a carefully selected set of supposedly true events, experiences, or the like, intended to support a particular viewpoint or thesis: to rewrite the prevailing narrative about masculinity; the narrative that our public schools are failing.
consisting of or being a narrative: a narrative poem.
of or relating to narration, or the telling of a story: My English teacher's narrative skill makes characters seem to come to life.
Fine Arts. representing stories or events pictorially or sculpturally: narrative painting.: Compare anecdotal (def. 2).
Origin of narrative
1synonym study For narrative
Other words for narrative
Other words from narrative
- nar·ra·tive·ly, adverb
- non·nar·ra·tive, adjective, noun
- sem·i·nar·ra·tive, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use narrative in a sentence
“How Much of These Hills Is Gold,” by C Pam ZhangTwo orphaned girls — the children of immigrants — go on the run in this brilliant reimagining of the cowboy narrative.
In a piece for Wired UK, Ralston has a major correction to the narrative.
Fact check: Ransomware did not lead to a woman’s death in Germany | Aaron Pressman | November 16, 2020 | FortuneDuring the pandemic, capturing those recordings provided a unique challenge for narrative producer Natalie Pohorski and her team.
‘Call of Duty’ voice actors spent the summer on video calls like the rest of us | Mike Hume | November 11, 2020 | Washington PostFor her to be under conservatorship — to have lost legal control over her life and her body — doesn’t fit the narrative.
Why Britney Spears’s fans are convinced she’s being held captive | Constance Grady | November 11, 2020 | VoxNot least, exactly 100 years ago Agatha Christie brought out “The Mysterious Affair at Styles,” the first demonstration of its author’s breathtaking narrative sleight-of-hand.
Agatha Christie fans, take note: Anthony Horowitz has a clever new twist on the classic whodunit | Michael Dirda | November 11, 2020 | Washington Post
How do you keep something like that together, narratively speaking?
‘No Regrets’: Peter Jackson Says Goodbye to Middle-Earth | Alex Suskind | December 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut on the show you could actually tell it narratively over a long period of time.
I thought it was narratively satisfying—but it was not so savory.
Michael C. Hall on Where ‘Dexter’ Went Wrong and His New Killer Role in ‘Cold in July’ | Melissa Leon | May 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTToo often, memoir seems to me an excuse to be fragmentary, incomplete, narratively non-rigorous.
Who only narratively recited the words of an oath, as a reporter or historian, without a real or professed intent of swearing.
A Christian Directory | Baxter RichardI have stated what were the avowed sentiments of the old Whigs, not in the way of argument, but narratively.
British Dictionary definitions for narrative
/ (ˈnærətɪv) /
an account, report, or story, as of events, experiences, etc
the narrative the part of a literary work that relates events
the process or technique of narrating
telling a story: a narrative poem
of or relating to narration: narrative art
Derived forms of narrative
- narratively, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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