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NARRATIVE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
Example:
Disney's stories entertain adults as well as children
Synonyms:
narration; narrative; story; tale
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("narrative" is a kind of...):
content; message; subject matter; substance (what a communication that is about something is about)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "narrative"):
tearjerker (an excessively sentimental narrative)
tall tale (an improbable (unusual or incredible or fanciful) story)
folk tale; folktale (a tale circulated by word of mouth among the common folk)
sob story; sob stuff (a sentimental story (or drama) of personal distress; designed to arouse sympathy)
fairy story; fairy tale; fairytale (a story about fairies; told to amuse children)
nursery rhyme (a tale in rhymed verse for children)
Instance hyponyms:
Canterbury Tales (an uncompleted series of tales written after 1387 by Geoffrey Chaucer)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story
Example:
narrative poetry
Classified under:
Similar:
communicative; communicatory (able or tending to communicate)
Derivation:
narrate (narrate or give a detailed account of)
Context examples:
But I perceive your thoughts; you do not credit my narrative and do not intend to pursue my enemy with the punishment which is his desert.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Second, because, as my narrative will make, alas! too evident, my discoveries were incomplete.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
The aggregate of past events; the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past to the present; a record or narrative description of past events.
(History, NCI Thesaurus)
The research provides a "door-opening opportunity" to resolving inconsistencies in the narrative of the planet's early days.
(Earth's mantle, not its core, may have generated planet's early magnetic field, National Science Foundation)
Adding to this compelling narrative is another galaxy, appearing to the lower left of D100 in the image, that foreshadows D100's fate.
(Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas, NASA)
Scenes in the movies showing guns were edited out for the no-gun version but the action and narrative of the film were not altered.
(Better Not to Show Kids Movies with Guns, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
At times he shocked them with the vividness of the narrative and his terms of speech, but beauty always followed fast upon the heels of violence, and tragedy was relieved by humor, by interpretations of the strange twists and quirks of sailors' minds.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
She had taken up a wrong idea, fancying it was a mother and daughter, a son and son's wife, who all lived together; but when it appeared that the Mr. Martin, who bore a part in the narrative, and was always mentioned with approbation for his great good-nature in doing something or other, was a single man; that there was no young Mrs. Martin, no wife in the case; she did suspect danger to her poor little friend from all this hospitality and kindness, and that, if she were not taken care of, she might be required to sink herself forever.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Whether former feelings were to be renewed must be brought to the proof; former times must undoubtedly be brought to the recollection of each; they could not but be reverted to; the year of their engagement could not but be named by him, in the little narratives or descriptions which conversation called forth.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
This, madam, is a faithful narrative of every event in which we have been concerned together; and if you do not absolutely reject it as false, you will, I hope, acquit me henceforth of cruelty towards Mr. Wickham.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
