Commentary

//ˈkɒm.ən.t(ə.)ɹi// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A series of comments or annotations; especially, a book of explanations or expositions on the whole or a part of some other work. countable, uncountable

    "This letter […] was published by him with a severe commentary."

  2. 2
    a written explanation or criticism or illustration that is added to a book or other textual material wordnet
  3. 3
    A brief account of transactions or events written hastily, as if for a memorandum. countable, plural-normally, uncountable

    "Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War"

  4. 4
    An oral relation of an event, especially broadcast by television or radio, as it occurs. countable, uncountable

    "We listened to the football commentary while watching the match."

Synonyms

All synonyms
commentscholiaaffixallongeanalysisannotation

Example

More examples

"The narrative provided some eye-opening social commentary on the state of the country."

Etymology

From Middle French commentaire, from Latin commentārius, commentārium (“notebook”), compare French commentaire. See comment.

Related phrases

DVD commentaryanti-commentaryaudio commentarycommentary boxcommentary trackcritical commentarypolitical commentaryrunning commentarysocial commentary

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.