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.

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 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

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

Here, complications from untreated mental illness drive the unreliable narrator trope for a swirly, tangled hair-raiser.

From Seattle Times • May 9, 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