commentators

Noun

commentator (plural commentators)

1. (obsolete, rare) Synonym of historian or chronicler, a person who compiles an annotated history.

   Synonyms:

   historian or chronicler

2. A person who compiles explanations and critical notes on a text.
3. A person who compiles explanations of the law, particularly (historical) comparatively innovative European jurists in the 14th century, as opposed to earlier glossators.
   • It would be well into the fourteenth century before the commentators came into their own.2009, Randall Lesaffer, European Legal History: A Cultural and Political Perspective, →ISBN, page 257
4. A person who compiles explanations of biblical passages.
5. A person who provides an instantaneous description of a public event, particularly a sporting event, for a mass media audience.
   • He was a commentator for football two years before retiring.
6. A person who provides analysis or opinion on current events, especially for a mass media audience.
   • Specifically, and unforgivably, she restarted the Heathrow Third Runway bandwagon, which had been stalled for more than a decade and even declared dead by most commentators.2025 February 19, Christian Wolmar, “Reeves talks of 'growth' but pays lip service to the railway”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 35