narrative
Syllables: nar·ra·tive/ˈnɛɹ.ə.tɪv/UK/ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/
narrative adjective: telling a story.
Adjective
narrative (comparative more narrative, superlative most narrative)
- Telling a story.
- Overly talkative; garrulous.
- But wise through time, and narrative with age.1715–1720, Homer, “(please specify the book of the Iliad or chapter quoted from)”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam]...
- Of or relating to narration.
- the narrative thrust of a film
- 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.2004 January 10, Galen Strawson, “Review: Making Stories by Jerome Bruner”, in The Guardian
Noun
narrative (countable and uncountable, plural narratives)
- The systematic recitation of an event or series of events.
- That which is narrated.
- A representation of an event or story in a way to promote a certain point of view.
- changing, controlling the narrative
- 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.2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)
- 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.
- 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.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...
narrative meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
narrative in Hindi
- narrative, account
- वृत्तांत vŕttānt
- narrative
- बयान bayān, अहवाल ahvāl
- narrative, story
- बीती bītī
- narrative, sequence
- कड़ी kaṛī
narrative in Tamil
- விரிவுரை, விளக்கக் கூற்று, எடுத்துரைப்பு
narrative in Urdu
- systematic recitation of an event
- رِوایَت rivāyat
narrative in Bengali
- systematic recitation of an event
- রেওয়ায়ৎ reōẇaẏot
- which is narrated
- রেওয়ায়ৎ reōẇaẏot
More languagesFewer languages
- narrative in Telugu
- వృత్తాంతము vr̥ttāntamu
- narrative in Malayalam
- വിവരണപരമായ, കഥാരൂപത്തിലുള്ള
- narrative in Kannada
- ಕತೆ kate
- narrative in Punjabi
- ਬਿਰਤਾਂਤ
- narrative in Gujarati
- કથન
- narrative in Arabic
- سَرْدِي sardī, قِصَّة qiṣṣa, حِكَايَة ḥikāya, سَرْدِيَّة sardiyya
- narrative in Indonesian
- naratif
- narrative in Thai
- การเล่าเรื่อง, ช่างพูดมาก, เกี่ยวกับเรื่องเล่า
- narrative in Vietnamese
- kể chuyện, tường thuật
Examples of narrative in a sentence
- I'd forgotten what happened in the first Harry Potter book so I read a summary of the narrative before starting the second one.
- Her wedding gives her fans the satisfying narrative conclusion that they desire.
- Romance relies on familiar narrative formulas, like the guarantee of an “H.E.A.” or “happily ever after.”
Forms of narrative
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more narrative |
| superlative | most narrative |
| Noun | |
| plural | narratives |
Origin of narrative
Borrowed from Middle Scots narrative, nerrative, from Middle French narratif, from Latin narrātīvus, from narrō (“to narrate”). By surface analysis, Latin narr- + -ate + -ive.
Words formed from narrative
- grounded narrative inquiry
- narrative arc
- narrative art
- narratively
- narrative present
- narrative structure
- narrative verdict
- narrativise
- narrativization
- narrativize
- nonnarrative
- pseudonarrative
- seminarrative
- semionarrative
- antenarrative
- antinarrative
- counternarrative
- cybernarrative
- geonarrative
- grand narrative
- ludonarrative
- metanarrative
- micronarrative
- multinarrative
- narrative hook
- narrativeless
- narrativist
- narrativistic
- narrativity
- narreme
- self-narrative
- sequential art narrative
- subnarrative
Phrases with narrative
Questions about narrative
- What does narrative mean?
- Narrative means telling a story.
- What is narrative in Hindi?
- Narrative in Hindi is वृत्तांत (vŕttānt), बयान (bayān), अहवाल (ahvāl). See Narrative meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is narrative?
- Narrative can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce narrative?
- Narrative is pronounced /ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/ (UK).
Words near narrative in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: narrative (page history and authors); अहवाल (Hindi) (page history and authors); narrative (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); వృత్తాంతము (Telugu) (page history and authors); narrative (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಕತೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); narrative (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); narrative (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-narrative.ogg.
Cite this entry: “narrative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/narrative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.