narrative.

1. An account presenting connected events, whether factual or invented.

2. Involving the telling or presentation of connected events.

3. An interpretive account that gives a situation a particular meaning or explanatory shape.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• historical narrative
• narrative of an event

On the page

The historical narrative connected the events while acknowledging a gap in the record.

Her narrative of the meeting differed from the official minutes.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Singular narrative; plural narratives. Also used as an adjective. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: clarity and ornament, narrative perspective, style analysis. Disciplines: literary writing, narrative analysis, advanced English. Commonness: moderately common.