Narrative Meaning
/ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjTelling a story.
adjOverly talkative; garrulous.
Sentence Examples
That is not what the narrative is about.
The mystery contains more dialogue than narrative.
A gripping narrative of their journey up the Amazon
CEFR Practice Quiz
The book presents a compelling ____ that covers the entire family history.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The author used a very complex ____ structure that jumped back and forth between several different time periods and various several points of view.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle Scots narrative, nerrative, from Middle French narratif, from Latin narrātīvus, from narrō (“to narrate”). By surface analysis, Latin narr- + -ate + -ive.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But wise through time, and narrative with age."
— 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “(please specify the book of the Iliad or chapter quoted from)”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
"There is a deep divide in our species. On one side, the narrators: those who are indeed intensely narrative, self-storying, Homeric, in their sense of life and self, whether they look to the past or the future."
— 2004 January 10, Galen Strawson, “Review: Making Stories by Jerome Bruner”, in The Guardian:
"Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of [Oscar] Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer."
— 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
"[Alexandra] Bell challenges the dominant coverage of Brown’s killing with the aim of introducing “a perspective and a narrative which is probably how a lot of people from these communities saw it go down”."
— 2017 May 30, Francisco Navas, quoting Alexandra Bell, “'It feels important': the counter-narrative artist challenging how news is reported”, in The Guardian:
"The posters quickly became embroiled in the interminable battle over narrative in the Israel-Palestine conflict."
— 2023 November 10, Chris McGreal, “‘It’s like a fire in the world’: how the Israeli ‘kidnapped’ posters set off a phenomenon and a backlash”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The book presents a compelling ____ that covers the entire family history.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The author used a very complex ____ structure that jumped back and forth between several different time periods and various several points of view.