narrator

American  

[nar-ey-ter, na-rey‑, nar-uh‑] / ˈnær eɪ tər, næˈreɪ‑, ˈnær ə‑ /

Or narrater

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of narrator

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

Example Sentences

Feeney’s book features multiple narrators, but relativity is not an idea the series bothers to develop.

From Los Angeles Times

She is a brilliant wordsmith, who had a transformative effect in literature by shifting the focus inward using indirect discourse to combine a character’s inner thoughts with the narrator’s voice.

From Los Angeles Times

David’s genius as a narrator and propagandist was in choosing the most emotionally charged episode in a story and choreographing it to contrast the responses of the protagonists.

From The Wall Street Journal

Cosby has had the same narrator for multiple novels, giving listeners a sense of consistency.

From The Wall Street Journal

A different conflict rages inside Gene, the narrator.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• author
• chronicler
• novelist
• writer