unreliable narrator

American  

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

noun

unreliable narrators plural

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• unreliable narrators
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

unreliable narrator

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 was asked by the panel if Norris was an unreliable narrator because of poor memory or due to "deliberate rewriting of history".

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025

Bertie is both a classic unreliable narrator and a stock comic character given life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025

Reubens fashions himself as an unreliable narrator in the film, questioning his own memories of the past and the veracity of the facts along the way.

From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2025

Are you familiar with the phrase unreliable narrator?

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson