narration

[ na-rey-shuhn ]

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.

narration

/ 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

narration

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

Other Words From

• nar·ration·al adjective
• nonnar·ration noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of narration¹

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

Example Sentences

This type of research was generated from the kind of hero-dog narration where you read about in the news a dog that pulled three children from the water where they were drowning.

From Freakonomics

I was never exempt from criticism and rejection of the themes that my narrations addressed, which almost always focused on LGBTQ issues and dirty realism.

From Washington Blade

These include the aforementioned frame narration, which casts a hypnotic spell over the proceedings that Flanagan uses to pull us along through the rocky bits where his plot is all over the map.

From Vox

Her Socialist Smile is an essay-style documentary that tells the story of Keller’s activism with images, narration, and onscreen text drawn from some of her speeches and writings.

From Vox

For anyone struggling with feelings of despair and hopelessness, Bufka and Alvord suggest first paying attention to the narration in your head.

From Popular-Science

One of the great pleasures of his book is the narration of dozens of small but significant encounters with students.

From The Daily Beast

Dialogue and narration is at a minimum, as are as the drawings.

From The Daily Beast

While these events are critical, what requires the most attention is the manner of her narration.

From The Daily Beast

“I drive through the streets and see people without hope,” he says in the elegiac narration that ends the film.

From The Daily Beast

Right up until the end, we were massaging narration, making it a bit more personal so it seemed more like what I saw.

From The Daily Beast

Beneath this melodrama, the circumstances are recounted at great length, and some halting verses conclude the mournful narration.

From Project Gutenberg

Narration deals with occurrences; description deals with appearances.

From Project Gutenberg

The division of time that seems best is to take Narration and Description in the first year.

From Project Gutenberg

Narration and description may be found in a piece of exposition; and all three may be employed in argument.

From Project Gutenberg

Narration tells what things do; description tells how things look.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• anecdote
• narrative
• tale
• voice-over