narration

American  

[na-rey-shuhn] / næˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. something narrated; an account, story, or narrative.

2. the act or process of narrating.

3. a recital of events, especially in chronological order, as the story narrated in a poem or the exposition in a drama.

4. Rhetoric.  (in classical speech) the third part, the exposition of the question.

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narration British  

/ nəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of narrating

2. a narrated account or story; narrative

3. (in traditional rhetoric) the third step in making a speech, the putting forward of the question

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narration Cultural  

1. The recounting of an event or series of events; the act of telling a story.

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Other Word Forms

• narrational adjective
• nonnarration noun

Etymology

Origin of narration

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin narrātiōn-, stem of narrātiō “narrative, story”; equivalent to narrate + -ion

Example Sentences

The technique of “Train Dreams”—the stylized juxtaposition of images and narration, the kaleidoscopic jumble of anxious memories and pastoral portraits—is not the stuff of an Old West parable.

From The Wall Street Journal

In her opening narration, Farsi explains how she’d been looking for a way into Gaza to understand it beyond the media reports.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, the narration jumps forward, flashes back and stalls, for brief periods, in the capricious memory of the narrator, John Dowell.

From The Wall Street Journal

Whether this is a flaw is up to you, but Smith’s opening narration provides the only backdrop or exposition we ever get in “Patti Smith: Dream of Life.”

From Salon

Mr. Dyer’s droll narration might spark readers’ own distant recollections.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• anecdote
• narrative
• tale
• voice-over