narration

noun nar·ra·tion \ na-ˈrā-shən , nə- \

Definition of narration

1 :the act or process or an instance of narrating

2 :story, narrative

—

narrational

play \na-ˈrā-shnəl, -shə-nᵊl, nə-\ adjective

See narration defined for English-language learners

See narration defined for kids

Examples of narration in a Sentence

The novel uses first-person narration.
They got a famous actor to do the narration for the documentary.
an actor who does narrations for documentaries

Recent Examples of narration from the Web

Great omniscient narration can impart the scope and thematic cohesion of a Charles Dickens novel.

— spencer kornhaber, The Atlantic, "Bran Stark and the Problem of Omniscience," 29 Aug. 2017
This episode starts with a recap of the ladies crying and some narration of the previous day’s events.

— katy primosch, baltimoresun.com, "'Bachelor in Paradise' recap: Dean drama," 22 Aug. 2017
The story is delivered through short scenes and voiceover narration.

— reid mccarter, GQ, "Finally, a video game that understands that uses history for meaning and context rather than just window dressing.," 16 Aug. 2017
Every seat is taken for the tours, which will include automotive trivia games and narration by some of Hagerty’s classic car experts.

— Detroit Free Press, "Dream Cruise revs up bigger and better show for 2017," 30 July 2017
Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky are comedic masters, and Suze's narration is completely natural and relatable.

— sam maggs, Marie Claire, "A Feminist Ranking of Female Superheroes," 25 July 2017
In a less contrived manner, Tilda Swinton (an executive producer) supplies mellow off-screen narration in Bell’s words.

— michigan, Detroit Free Press, "Lawrence of Arabia’s female counterpart gets her due in new film," 14 July 2017
The live stream at the river is also posted to Explore.org’s Facebook page, where every now and then a park ranger will drop in and offer live narration and bear trivia.

— lisa gutierrez, kansascity, "Just try to look away from this Alaska bear cam: ‘A live stream of a live stream’," 13 July 2017
The video has Higgins touring parts of the Nazi-era concentration camp in Poland and intoning a somber narration, including a scene inside one of the former gas chambers where the Auschwitz Memorial prefers that silence be kept.

— drew broach, NOLA.com, "Clay Higgins says he 'feels sorrow,' pulls down Auschwitz video," 5 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'narration.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of narration

15th century

narration Synonyms

Synonyms

chronicle, chronology, commentary (usually commentaries), history, account, narrative, record, report, story

Related Words

version; deposition, documentation, testament, testimonial, testimony, witness; annals, blog, diary, journal, log, logbook, memoir; minutes, procès-verbal; anecdote, tale, yarn; epic, saga; gest (or geste), romance; recital, recitation; case history, case study

Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody

NARRATION Defined for English Language Learners

narration

noun

Definition of narration for English Language Learners

: the act or process of telling a story or describing what happens
: words that are heard as part of a movie, television show, etc., and that describe what is being seen