raisonneur

[ rez-uh-nur; French re-zaw-nœr ]

noun

, plural rai·son·neurs [rez-, uh, -, nurz, r, e-zaw-, nœr].

1. a character in a play, novel, or the like who voices the central theme, philosophy, or point of view of the work.

Word History and Origins

Origin of raisonneur¹

1900–05; < French: literally, one who reasons or argues, equivalent to raisonn ( er ) to reason, argue + -eur -eur

Example Sentences

Benedict Cumberbatch conveys perfectly the surface smoothness of the self-destructive David, Faye Castelow is all swan-necked determination as the naively redemptive Helen, and Adrian Scarborough is unimprovable as a parasitic house guest who acts as a Pinerotic raisonneur.

From The Guardian

As the central character, comic relief, raisonneur and raison d'�tre of Bernard Slade's play Tribute, Scottie kept the jokes flowing as his world collapsed like a burlesque banana's baggy pants.

From Time Magazine Archive

The sculptor is a formidable bore, the antique raisonneur of French drama, preaching at every pore every chance he has.

From Project Gutenberg

So, too, Ibsen does without the raisonneur of Dumas and Augier, that condensation of the Greek chorus into a single person, who is only the mouthpiece of the author himself and who exists chiefly to point the moral, even tho he may sometimes also adorn the tale.

From Project Gutenberg

But she, like myself, is but a raisonneur in the drama, and so, reluctantly, I must keep her in the background.

From Project Gutenberg