narrative

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French narratif.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnæɹətɪv/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /ˈnæɹətɪv/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛɹətɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nar‧ra‧tive

Adjective

narrative (comparative more narrative, superlative most narrative)

1. Telling a story.
2. Overly talkative; garrulous.
   • 1715–1720, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “(please specify the book of the Iliad or chapter quoted from)”, in The Iliad of Homer, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: W Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott , →OCLC:

     But wise through time, and narrative with age.

3. Of or relating to narration.

   the narrative thrust of a film

   • 2004 January 10, Galen Strawson, “Review: Making Stories by Jerome Bruner”, in The Guardian‎:

     There is a deep divide in our species. On one side, the narrators: those who are indeed intensely narrative, self-storying, Homeric, in their sense of life and self, whether they look to the past or the future.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

narrative (countable and uncountable, plural narratives)

1. The systematic recitation of an event or series of events.
2. That which is narrated.
3. A representation of an event or story in a way to promote a certain point of view.

   changing, controlling the narrative

   • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)‎:

     Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of [Oscar] Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer.

   • 2017 May 30, Francisco Navas, quoting Alexandra Bell, “'It feels important': the counter-narrative artist challenging how news is reported”, in The Guardian‎:

     [Alexandra] Bell challenges the dominant coverage of Brown’s killing with the aim of introducing “a perspective and a narrative which is probably how a lot of people from these communities saw it go down”.

   • 2023 November 10, Chris McGreal, “‘It’s like a fire in the world’: how the Israeli ‘kidnapped’ posters set off a phenomenon and a backlash”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     The posters quickly became embroiled in the interminable battle over narrative in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

4. (creative writing) A manner of conveying a story, fictional or otherwise, in a body of work.

   The plot is full of holes, but the narrative is extremely compelling.

   • 2015, Angus Slater, “Prophecy, Pre-destination, and Free-form Gameplay: The Nerevarine Prophecy in Bethesda’s ‘Morrowind’”, in Online: Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet‎, volume 7, →DOI, page 175:

     The player is free to create their own narrative within a much larger set of possible designed narrative options, or, given the geographic and dialogical openness of Morrowind, to refuse the creation of any narrative but their own and wander aimlessly through the game.

Derived terms

Related terms

• narrate
• narration
• narrator

Translations

References

• “narrative”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• narrative in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “narrative”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• veratrina

French

Adjective

narrative

1. feminine singular of narratif

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nar.raˈti.ve/
• Rhymes: -ive
• Hyphenation: nar‧ra‧tì‧ve

Adjective

narrative f pl

1. feminine plural of narrativo

Noun

narrative f pl

1. plural of narrativa

Anagrams

• antiverrà, arrivante, interrava, rientrava, verrinata