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unreliable narrator

American

[uhn-ri-lahy-uh-buhl nar-ay-ter] / ˌʌn rɪˈlaɪ ə bəl ˈnær eɪ tər /

noun

a narrator, especially in a work of fiction, whose version of events cannot be completely trusted.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

unreliable narrators

plural

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.

His second day of testimony in federal court in Oakland, California grew testy at times, as OpenAI's lawyers sought to portray the Tesla tycoon as an unreliable narrator of the company's history.

From Barron's • Apr. 29, 2026

The psychologist had spent nine hours interviewing Norris and told the hearing he was an "unreliable narrator of his own life".

From BBC • Oct. 8, 2025

Concluding that Didion left these pages behind so they would eventually take shape as the penance of an unreliable narrator is surely too tidy.

From Salon • Jun. 14, 2025

I thought it would be helpful if I showed him to be an unreliable narrator.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 29, 2024

Are you familiar with the phrase unreliable narrator?

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023