NARRATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does narration mean? 

• NARRATION (noun)
  The noun NARRATION has 3 senses:

1. 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

2. the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events

3. (rhetoric) the second section of an oration in which the facts are set forth

  Familiarity information: NARRATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NARRATION (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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

narration; narrative; story; tale

Context example:

Disney's stories entertain adults as well as children

Hypernyms ("narration" 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 "narration"):

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)

Derivation:

narrate (narrate or give a detailed account of)

narrate (provide commentary for a film, for example)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

narration; recital; yarn

Context example:

his narration was hesitant

Hypernyms ("narration" is a kind of...):

account; report (the act of informing by verbal report)

Meronyms (parts of "narration"):

body (the central message of a communication)

introduction (the first section of a communication)

close; closing; conclusion; end; ending (the last section of a communication)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "narration"):

recounting; relation; telling (an act of narration)

Derivation:

narrate (narrate or give a detailed account of)

narrate (provide commentary for a film, for example)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(rhetoric) the second section of an oration in which the facts are set forth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("narration" is a kind of...):

section; subdivision (a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical))

Domain category:

rhetoric (study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking))

Derivation:

narrate (narrate or give a detailed account of)

 Context examples 

Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She said nothing, however, till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right up to the present time.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Her narration was clear and simple; and though it could not be given without emotion, it was not accompanied by violent agitation, nor impetuous grief.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He gave her a very plain, intelligible account of the whole; a narration in which she saw a great deal of most characteristic proceeding.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Miss Bates had just done as Patty opened the door; and her visitors walked upstairs without having any regular narration to attend to, pursued only by the sounds of her desultory good-will.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The staring of Mrs. Markleham during the whole narration, and the shrill, sharp interjections with which she occasionally interrupted it, defy description.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He, by some wonder of vision, saw beyond the farthest outpost of empiricism, where was no language for narration, and yet, by some golden miracle of speech, investing known words with unknown significances, he conveyed to Martin's consciousness messages that were incommunicable to ordinary souls.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When I had concluded my narration, I said, This is the being whom I accuse and for whose seizure and punishment I call upon you to exert your whole power.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Such was the sentence which, when misunderstood, so justly offended the delicate feelings of Mrs. Jennings; but after this narration of what really passed between Colonel Brandon and Elinor, while they stood at the window, the gratitude expressed by the latter on their parting, may perhaps appear in general, not less reasonably excited, nor less properly worded than if it had arisen from an offer of marriage.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Thus ended Peggotty's narration.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)