narrative

1
2
as in tale
a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel in such narratives as "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined Letter," Edgar Allan Poe essentially created the modern detective story

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of narrative In total, there will be 56 narrative features and 16 feature documentaries screened at the Savannah Film Festival this year. Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2025 Of course, some fans simply feel caught in the middle and would probably like to be excluded from this narrative altogether. Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 3 Oct. 2025 That album prioritized emotional and narrative complexity over catchy sing-alongs. Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2025 Cheerleaders followed suit, along with a live performance by Milo Throtton, a French singer also known as Asphalt, who, dressed as a football player, seemed to embody the high-school heartthrob in the narrative. Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 3 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for narrative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for narrative
Noun
  • This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
    David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 7 Oct. 2025
  • The series’ first season, chronicling the crimes of Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, prompted a conversation about the exploitation of Black and disabled people’s stories for entertainment, while the season following the Menendez Brothers led to a real-world reconsidering of their guilt.
    Mathew Rodriguez, Them., 7 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Instead, spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground will forever tell tales of his audacious 60 off just 65 balls.
    Sam Dalling, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Wyler’s Oscar-winning film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) – a timely tale of the weight of coming home from World War II – was named as subversive by HUAC.
    Chris Yogerst, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The two of them are tightly bound not just by chronology but also by the stratifications of class; Marlowe’s father made shoes, and Shakespeare’s father made gloves.
    Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
  • But Longo also disrupts the idea of typical film-watching chronology.
    Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 6 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • In some ways, that question is secondary to the fact that Lot 49 grapples with the nature of symbology itself, and the way that symbols work in literature, which contributed to the novella as good syllabus fodder.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Featuring illustrations by Sophie Blackall, the novella wraps up the trilogy that DiCamillo largely wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The tour highlights the area's history, civil rights movement and recent developments.
    Keely Doll, Louisville Courier Journal, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Free to the public — with any order people want to do the crawl in also fine — the stops cover different facets of state and local history.
    Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 2 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • This will only work on accounts using an email included in the initial 2021 data breach.
    James Peckham, PC Magazine, 6 Oct. 2025
  • Digital rights advocates have also pushed back against a proposal to limit a person to only one social media account per platform, ostensibly as a means to crack down on disinformation.
    Chad de Guzman, Time, 6 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Taylor said in a prerecorded interview that served as the majority of the narration.
    Adisa Hargett-Robinson, The Washington Examiner, 6 Oct. 2025
  • The action is largely desynchronized, the activities onscreen contrasting with the voice-over narrations, with the effect of destabilizing the present tense of the movie, imbuing it with nostalgia and with longing for possible futures.
    Richard Brody, New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Ever the nosy detective, Ashley takes it upon herself to search Virginia’s court records to find a record of Stacey’s divorce, and comes up empty, a claim that Stacey doesn’t refute.
    Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025
  • Online court records indicated to investigators that Arfsten was released on bail in a felony theft case at the time of the South Milwaukee incident.
    Erik S. Hanley, jsonline.com, 6 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Narrative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/narrative. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

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